First lady (HRC) criticizes policy of `don't ask, don't tell' (and Rudy Agrees with Hillary)

Hillary Rodham Clinton this week told a group of gay contributors to her campaign that the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, intended to make it easier for homosexuals to serve in the military, had been a failure, her aides said Wednesday.

The first lady, a candidate for the U.S. Senate from New York, said that if elected she would work to revise what was one of the first programs put in place under President Clinton.

Hillary Clinton, speaking Tuesday night at a fund-raiser in Manhattan, said gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military, according to participants.

Acknowledging that it was politically unrealistic to expect Congress to approve such legislation now, she said the Pentagon should take steps to reduce the instances of gays being discharged from the military.

Hillary Clinton's remarks, made at a private appearance organized by gay supporters that raised about $100,000 for her campaign, were related by people who attended and confirmed by her office in a written statement Wednesday evening.

"Gays and lesbians already serve with distinction in our nation's armed forces and should not face discrimination," Hillary Clinton said in the statement. "Fitness to serve should be based on an individual's conduct, not their sexual orientation."

The statement puts Hillary Clinton, once again, at odds with a policy implemented by her husband's administration that her aides believe could cause her problems for her as a candidate in New York. But it puts her in line with the views of MAYOR RUDOLF GIULIANI, her likely Republican opponent, who aides say also supports allowing gays to serve in the military and has been critical of the "don't ask, don't tell" initiative.

Hillary Clinton's comments marked the first time she had publicly discussed her views about one of the more difficult episodes of Clinton's first term in office, according to Jeff Soref, the co- chairman of the Empire State Pride Agenda, a gay rights group, and an organizer of the fund-raiser.

The fight over President Clinton's attempt to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military -- an attempt to fulfill a pledge he made as a presidential candidate in 1992 -- dominated his first months in office, raising questions about the new president's competence and ideology, among both supporters and opponents of the ban.

President Clinton eventually abandoned an executive order, instead agreeing to legislation that permitted gays and lesbians to serve in the military providing they did not disclose or act upon their sexuality, and prohibiting the military from initiating unfounded inquiries about homosexuality. That approach ended up angering many of the people whom the president had set out to please in the first place.

Hillary Clinton, responding to a question posed at the fund- raiser held at the studio of the artist Ross Bleckne, voiced her displeasure with the policy in unequivocal terms, according to participants.

There were murmurs of approval and soft applause as she described "don't ask, don't tell" as a failure, taking note of the fact that there had been an increase in the number of gays expelled from the military since the policy was put in force.

Gay groups say that since the policy was put into effect, the number of such discharges has doubled, to 312, last year.

"I think, quite frankly, she expressed a view that is an emerging consensus among people who are following this closely," said Richard Socarides, the former White House liaison to gay groups, who attended the fund-raiser.

Socarides said Hillary Clinton stated her views "directly and forcefully," adding: "I suspect that if you asked the president directly, he would say that this is an area that requires a lot of work also."

The fact that both Giuliani and Hillary Clinton have embraced the same position on an issue that so deeply split Congress in 1993 -- and caused political problems for the Democratic White House -- reflects the extent to which both of the Senate hopefuls view gay men and lesbians as a source of votes and contributions.

Both Hillary Clinton and Giuliani already have gone to some lengths to court support from gay voters, and Hillary Clinton's advisers said they were concerned that the mayor might do well among a group of voters that has historically been viewed as a reliable part of the Democratic base.

At the fund-raiser, Hillary Clinton also voiced support for domestic partnership measures that would allow gay partners to receive the same benefits as married couples.

On this, her position is similar to the one taken by Giuliani, who supported a domestic partnership law in 1997. The mayor frequently remarks that he signed the city's first domestic partnership legislation.

On Gay-Rights\Gay Rights Bill:

Giuliani favors extended civil-rights protection for gays and lesbians. Giuliani urged, by letter, to the New York Senate Majority Leader to pass the state's first ever gay rights bill, but did it privately.

"I am writing to convey my support for the current legislation to prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians, and to urge you to allow the bill onto the floor of the Senate for prompt action."

"...It is my belief that we can penalize discrimination [against gays] without creating any potentially objectionable special privileges or preferential treatment."

--New York Post, June 5, 1993

Now Rudy Giuliani has jumped on the bandwagon, pressing the state Republican Party to release a gay-rights bill to the Senate floor for a vote. Marching in Sunday's [Gay Pride] parade, he has enlisted in the struggle to destroy the family. What a perfectly abominable springboard to seek high political office.

--Ray Kerrison
New York Post, June 30, 1993

Giuliani said homosexuality is "good and normal."

--Ray Kerrison
New York Post, July 7, 1989

On Gay Domestic Partnership:

"I have no objection to the concept of domestic partnership."

--Rudy Giuliani
Informed Sources
New York T.V. Show (PBS), May, 1992

Rudy Giuliani: The Knight and ‘The Queen’ 11/28/2001

According to The London Times, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani gives kisses before he leaves every morning, but to neither his estranged wife, nor his girlfriend. Instead, says The Times, “Sir Rudy” gives a peck on the cheek to the two homosexual men he’s living with.

“We always get a little kiss, it’s cute,” says wealthy car dealer Howard Koeppel, with whom Giuliani has been sharing an apartment since June. When Giuliani was recently knighted, Koeppel tells The Times that he told “Sir Rudy” to call him “Queen Howard.” Koeppel (63) and his homosexual lover Mark Hsiao (41) have been comforting Giuliani, and trying to make him laugh, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

On the way to a recent fundraising dinner for the pro-homosexual state lobby group, The Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA), Koeppel ribbed Giuliani by saying that if the ESPA was able to raise $100,000 donation for the homosexual victims of the September 11 attacks, Giuliani should agree to appear on Showtime’s controversial Queer as Folk dressed in drag. Surprisingly, Giuliani agreed.

Marty Algaze of Gay Men’s Health Crisis once summed up Queer as Folk — a show that touts graphic sexual activity as one of its biggest draws — as one that would “shock a lot of people.” Showtime’s Queer as Folk was inspired by the original series in Britain, which featured a storyline in which a 29-year-old man has a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy.

The propensity to shock people is not new to Giuliani, who likes to dress in women’s clothes as a stage act, and even did so once at a Pride Agenda fund-raiser.

According to the Times, Giuliani has attended every “gay pride” parade in New York during his eight years as mayor. In 1992, during his first run for mayor, Giuliani took part in a homosexual “pride” parade that included a contingent of pedophile activists marching behind a banner for NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association).

— Ken Ervin

Concerned Women for America
1015 Fifteenth St. N.W., Suite 1100
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: (202) 488-7000
Fax: (202) 488-0806
E-mail: mail@cwfa.org

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