Military Issue Brings New Gay Response : Diversity: Activists threaten to withhold funds from Democrats. White House officials seek to meet with prominent members of community.

Gay activists stepped up their pressure on the Clinton Administration Thursday, threatening to pull funds from the Democratic National Committee and warning of further political repercussions should the President backslide on his campaign pledges to allow gay men and lesbians to serve in the military.

Amid the uproar, Democratic chairman David C. Wilhelm met in New York with a group of prominent donors who had threatened to stop contributing unless the President moves quickly to end discrimination against gays in the military. And White House officials scrambled to arrange a meeting for today with prominent gay activists.

For weeks, White House officials had tried to move attention away from the military issue--reminding gay political activists of Clinton’s support for increased funds for AIDS research, his appointments of homosexuals to senior posts and his willingness to attend gay-sponsored events.

“The campaign Bill Clinton ran allowed the gay community to be dealt with openly,” said one senior official. “That’s a major, major accomplishment.”

But that argument has been largely lost in the storm over the military issue, particularly after Tuesday’s press conference in which Clinton left open the possibility that he could accept a rule that would allow gay men and lesbians to serve in the armed forces but would bar them from combat duty.

“This military issue has become a referendum on whether it is OK to be a gay man or lesbian in America and that’s why it is so important to us,” said Fred Hochberg, one of those who met with Wilhelm. “The issue is bigger than itself.”

For Clinton, that has meant a political bind. On the one side, he faces a vocal and outraged constituency that supported him during the election and now fears it has been abandoned. On the other, his advisers fear negative reaction from a broader public which grows uncomfortable every time Clinton discusses gay-related issues.

But gay leaders have rejected appeals from White House officials to avoid public protests, saying it is Clinton, not they, who created the current problem.

The most poignant protest so far has come from Los Angeles political activist David Mixner, a longtime friend of Clinton’s and one of his earliest backers who, despite pleas by White House officials, has publicly criticized the President.

“Mr. President, our friend, hear us carefully. Only our total freedom will do,” Mixner wrote in the text of a speech he plans to give Saturday, according to a copy obtained by The Times. “There can be no further compromises with our dreams, our rights . . . .”

The speech also sharply criticizes Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), who has opposed allowing gays to serve, calling him “an old-fashioned bigot” and “our George Wallace.”

Clinton tried to restate his position in a more palatable form in a televised interview Wednesday, saying he meant only that he would think about whatever options the military recommends to him. But that statement appears to have come too late.

“All he has to say is ‘I was misunderstood. I don’t support segregation,’ ” said one prominent gay activist. “Why is he holding out?”

The answer to that question remains unclear. Some leaders in the gay community believe Clinton tried deliberately to float a trial balloon. Others argue he stumbled and that the White House has refused to retract the statement for fear of sparking yet more headlines on a subject officials believe does him harm no matter what he says.