Both Sides Dislike New Gay Policy : Military: Some Ventura County residents say Clinton’s compromise goes too far, others say it doesn’t go far enough.

President Clinton’s new policy on gays in the military displeased people on both sides of the issue in Ventura County.

“I’m not happy with his decision,” veteran Gordon Amundsen of Simi Valley said of the President’s “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue” policy for gay men and lesbians in the armed services.

“I don’t even think gays should be in there at all,” he said, asserting that gay men and women would form relationships with fellow soldiers that might be distracting in combat.

Edie Brown, 57, a member of the Lesbian and Gay Alliance of Ventura County, disagreed but was equally unhappy with Clinton’s compromise.

“It really is time to change,” Brown said. “I’m angry, disappointed, hurt. If we’d wanted another wimp in the White House, we’d have put Bush back in there.”

Under the new rules, which will take effect Oct. 1, homosexuals will be allowed to serve in the armed forces as long as they don’t say or do anything that reveals their sexual orientation.

Amundsen said the President made a mistake by promising he would lift the ban on gays in the military.

“What he’s trying to do now is after opening his mouth, he’s trying to make a compromise and back out,” said Amundsen, 54, who served more than four years in the Navy during the Vietnam War. “I think he should have stayed away from the whole issue and not even gotten into it.”

For Brown, the issue has personal significance: She was dishonorably discharged from the Air Force in the late 1950s on account of her homosexuality. In the 35 years since her discharge, nothing has changed in the military’s treatment of gays, and Clinton’s new policy changes nothing, she said.

She said most active military personnel do not mind serving alongside gay men and women. “I think you have a few homophobes in there, but most people don’t care,” she said.

Despite widespread disappointment among gays with Clinton’s policy, some Navy officials said it may result in fewer groundless accusations against people suspected of being homosexual or lesbian.

Previously, anybody in the Navy could spark an investigation by accusing a person of being gay, said Alan Alpers, spokesman for the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station.

“People can no longer throw that around carelessly and have it acted upon,” Alpers said. “The new policy is designed not to be a witch hunt.”

Under the new policy, only commanding officers at Navy bases can launch investigations into whether enlisted people or officers are gay, he said.

But, Alpers said, Point Mugu’s commanding officer--Capt. Selwyn Laughter--is not sure when he would be expected to begin such an investigation. “It’s not real clear to us at the working level how the Navy’s going to implement it,” he said.

Richard Parks, the manager and bartender of a Ventura gay bar, Incognito at the Beach, said Clinton’s decision may hurt the President with his gay supporters.

“He made a lot of promises to the gays,” Parks said.

But that’s politics as usual, he said. “You lie your way into office and hope for the best. I have no hard feelings. But then again, I didn’t serve in the military.”

Sal Fuentes, 31, co-founder of the gay rights group Unity Pride Coalition, said he would not judge Clinton only on this issue.

But he said he is angry because the new policy puts gay military men and women into a bind.

“You can be born gay, but don’t act on being gay” was how Fuentes interpreted the new rules. “I think it’s un-American to say it’s OK to serve your country but don’t you dare open up your mouth and say what your sexual orientation is.”

Some active military personnel said they believe Clinton struck a good compromise in allowing gays to serve as long as they don’t talk about or display their sexual preferences.

“I’m adamantly against gays,” said Oxnard resident Todd Jensen, 22, an enlisted Navy man stationed at Point Mugu. He was watching TV news reports about the new policy at the bar at Mugu’s Pizza during lunch Monday.

Jensen said he accepts that “you’re always going to have a faction of people in the military who are gay.”

The important thing, he said, is that homosexuals and lesbians keep quiet about their sexual inclinations to preserve the conformity that he believes is crucial to an effective military.

“As soon as they start to say, ‘I’m gay, I’m going to act a certain way,’ it kind of breaks down the system,” Jensen said. “In boot camp, they shave your heads and they tell you you’re exactly the same. And that’s the way you’re supposed to act. The military is a place for conformity. Without conformity, the entire military breaks down.”

Jim Musolino, a Point Mugu enlisted man who was watching news reports with Jensen, called the new policy “a fair compromise.”

However, the 23-year-old Camarillo resident said, he is concerned that gay people will have trouble hiding their sexual orientation.

And he believes the new policy will be difficult for the military to implement. “I don’t think it’s going to hold up.”