New Military Policy
Upsets Jewish Groups

Fear 'don't ask, don't tell' guideline could open
doors for future prejudice.

JAMES D. BESSER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

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resident Clinton's
long-awaited policy on
gays and lesbians in
the military, won little
praise from a Jewish com-
munity that had actively
supported the effort to end
the 50 year old ban.
A long list of Jewish
groups joined gay and les-
bian organizations and civil
rights groups in criticizing
the "don't ask, don't tell"
policy that will allow gays
and lesbians to remain in
the military as long as they
do not disclose their homo-
sexuality or engage in
homosexual activities.
That policy, according to
several Jewish activists,
represents a precedent that
is both morally wrong and
dangerous to other minori-
ties.
The decision came after
intense pressure from the

p

policy is scheduled to go into
effect on October 1.
"The president has clearly
improved the situation in
terms of trying to accommo-
date gays in the military
and he ought to be com-
mended for that," said
Rabbi David Saperstein,
director of the Religious
Action Center of Reform
Judaism, a group that
played a key role in the
fight against the ban. "But
we are disheartened that he
did not go further and end
the ban entirely, even if it
had resulted in a major
fight in Congress."
Jews with very different
perspectives on the morality
of homosexuality rallied to
the anti-ban cause, he said,
because of the strong
Jewish aversion to officially
sanctioned discrimination of
any kind, and because of its

military, the Christian
Right and some key mem-
bers of Congress forced
President Clinton to aban-
don his campaign promise
to eliminate the ban out-
right.
After a six-month
reassessment of the issue by
Defense Secretary Les
Aspin, the president
announced an "honorable
compromise" that will
almost certainly touch off
court challenges and efforts
by both sides in the debate
to pass legislation in
Congress before the new

implications for other
minorities.
"One of the reasons we
have been in the forefront of
every struggle for equality
is the idea that if any group
can be discriminated
against in American society,
that kind of bigotry can
come back to haunt the
Jews," Rabbi Saperstein
said. "It touches a raw
nerve, in terms of Jewish
memory."
That theme was amplified
by Chai Feldblum, legal and
policy director for the
Campaign for Military