White House Sides With FBI on Gays
The Clinton Administration defended the FBI’s policies on homosexuals at the start of a federal court trial Thursday by arguing that closeted gay FBI agents may be a security risk.
The Administration, whose “don’t ask, don’t tell” formula allows homosexuals to remain in military service as long as they keep their sexual orientation to themselves, took a contrasting position in a suit by a veteran FBI agent who was fired after disclosing his homosexuality.
“Homosexual conduct, in and of itself, has no security significance,” Justice Department lawyer Kevin Simpson said in his opening statement. But he said an allegation of homosexual conduct “will raise security concerns more readily” than heterosexual activity. The FBI’s security argument is “a pretext . . . to hide discrimination, founded on bigotry and ignorance,” said attorney Michael Fitzgerald.
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