Gays Must Form Coalition For Repeal of Military Ban

The gay community must band together to ensure the military's ban on gays is quickly repealed, participants in a panel discussion said last night at the Law School.

The panel discussion, sponsored by the Law School Committee on Gay. Bisexual and Lesbian Legal issues, was meant to give a "history of current issues of gays in the military" said moderator Michelle Glade, a graduate of the Law School.

The discussion was prompted by the January compromise between president Clinton and Congress to postpone a decision on the ban until July, according to the event's coordinators.

Discussion ranged from President Clinton's attention to the gay community to Federal District Judge Terry Hatter Jr.'s's recent decision--which is under appeal--that the Navy should reinstate a gay sailor who had been discharged.

Panelist Joseph C. Steftan, a law student at the University of Connecticut who was discharged from the Naval Academy because of his sexual orientation, said prejudice against gays should be compared to other historical examples of discrimination.

"One of the most effective ways of opening the eyes of people to what has happened to gays in the military is to show that it is the same thing that happened to Black Americans and women "Steffan said.

Michelle Bennecke who graduated from Harvard Law School last year and is a former Army officer, warned that obstacles in the next six months should not be overlooked just because Clinton has made some headway towards repealing the ban.

"The goal of the movement is a complete repeal of the ban," said Bennecke, currently a member of the Campaign for Military Service. "But that's not enough I think the real battleground will be restrictions on gays in the military."

Bennecke said that Clinton is politically gun shy on this issue. Yet "he already put his neck out and the gay community was not here for him."

Boston University professor of Law Gunyon Gordon was chosen to round out the panel for her expertise in military justice.

Damel E. Caul, a second-year law student and co coordinator of the panel, said his committee chose to hold the panel because "this is the hottest legal and political issue for gays and lesbians and with Congressional hearings coming up soon we thought it was the right time."