Oage 4-Thursday, February 23, 1978-The Michigan Daily
stbrIIidi&Wan :aiIQ
Eighty-Eight Years ofEditorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 120
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
T~he hig court's cop-out
Women: Lost in optimism
'T HE UNITED STATES Supreme
Court acts in mysterious ways.
But not too mysterious. It is easy, for
example, to discern a pattern from the
court's dealings with recent questions
of homosexual rights before them. -
The nine justices have followed one
simple strategy without fail in recent
years when it has come to cases of gay
rights: don't do anything.'
The latest court decision is just an-
other application of this strategy. Tues-
day, the justices refused to hear an ap-
peal by the University of Missouri
which challenged the presence of gay
liberation student groups on its cam-
puses. The court's refusal to review the
case,. in this instance, represents a
shallow victory for the nation's gay
community.
But the last time the court made such
a default, the result was a major set-
back to homosexual rights. In October
1977, the high court let stand the ruling
of a state court in Washington that
homosexuals are "immoral" and may
be fired from their jobs on that basis.
Specifically, the case dealt with a
Tacoma, Washington high school teach-
er, who upon revealing his sexual pref-
erences was promptly fired by school
officials. The Supreme Court's disposal
of the case was a surprise and disap-
pointment to gay and civil rights ac-
tivists alike, because they had been ex-
pecting the court to use the teacher's
-:appeal to set a precedent on the
. question of homosexual discrimination.
But even then, had these activists
only looked to, recent lawbooks, they
would have seen that the high court has
for years avoided issues dealing with
homosexuality. The justices were not
willing years ago, and apparently are
still not willing to do anything more
than refuse to hear cases of
'discrimination on the basis of sexual
preference.k
That is why - despite the small vic-
tory claimed this week by many gays -
the Supreme Court's latest action is yet
another disappointment. The rights of
homosexuals continue to be desecrated
and overall individual rights - not just
those of gays, but of all U.S. citizens -
are suffering for it.
It is in part a responsibility of this
nation's most powerful court to define
standards of law and guidelines for
lower courts to follow. But the court has
been inept in this duty, as Justices
William Rehnquist and Harry Black-
mun themselves charged in a dissent
over Tuesday's ruling.
"We ignore our function and respon-
sibility in the framework of the federal
court system and place added burdens
on other courts in that system," the two
dissenters pointed out.
It is already well beyond the time
when discrimination on the basis of
sexual preference should have been
outlawed. If the Supreme Court contin-
ues to ignore its responsibility on set-
tling this one clear-cut question, then
such a responsibility should be taken
away from it. As has been said here
before, a constitutional amendment
may just be the only way to guarantee
future rights for the gay community.
When feminists speak of the
women's movement today, many
look back to times when blatant
discrimination against women
was the order of the day and
speak of the progress which has
been made.
Others look at the camouflaged
discrimination fostered by
today's society and speak of the
numerous struggles which l'ay
ahead.
STANDING IN the oasis be-
tween yesterday's blatant dis-
crimination andytoday'smore
subtle but equally pervasive in-
justices, the women's movement
seems stalled - caught in a
warp.
"Look at what we've done,"
some women proclaim. "Women
now run for elective office, attend
professional schdols, play little
league baseball and patronize
former exclusively male restau-
rants." But others, myself in-
cluded, are not so easily satisfied.
Two well-known represen-
tatives from both ends of feminist
spectrum spoke during a week of
lectures on women's issues at
Michigan State University last
week.
BETTY FRIEDAN, founder of
the National Organization for
Women and author of The
Feminist Mystique discussed the
progressive change she has seen
women accomplish in the past
twenty years.
Florence Kennedy, an activist
in the areas of gay rights,
prostitutes rights, founder of the
Feminist Party and Call Off Your
Tired Old Ethics (COYOTE) or-
ganizer also spoke, urging
"women with taste and brains"
to pull themselves out of the trap
of complacency and to continue.
the feminist struggle.
Friedan does not speak with
the same urgency regarding the
women's movement. She feels
the struggle is well on its way.
"The further we moved to change
our lives, the less angry we had to
be," Friedan said. We will be
angry when its needed."
Perhaps the time for such
anger is now. I do not refer to a
senseless anger, wrecking every-
thing in its path, but to an anger
tempered by realism.
IT IS TIME for women to look
around and judge the world free
of illusions, for this is a time
It is time for women to move be-
yond the little league field to more
substantive gains.
By Pauline Toole
steps were not followed up.
Women today are mired in a
right-wing conservative backlash
and face an erosion of their hard-
earned rights.
I find that scary.
It frightens me that the ERA is
floundering, three states short of
ratification, with no hope in sight.
It scares me that the Supreme
necessitating action.
Betty Friedan and others speak
of the accomplishments in the
early stages of the modern
women's movement. That is fine
and good. We should be proud of
the beginnings made. But it is
only a start. Now is no time for
complacency.
It-is time for women to move
beyond the little league field to
more substantive gains.
AS OF JANUARY 1978, only 1.3
per cent of the judiciary in the
United States are women. A scant
nine per cent of state and federal
legislators are women. And,
despite numerous campaign
promises, only 11 per cent of Car-
ter's government appointees are
women.
The glaring light of equality
has not, as of yet, shone on
women.
The year 1972 was a momen-
tous one for the women's
movement. Women attained
some measure bf control over
their bodies when the Supreme
Court ruled that abortions were
legal. The Equal Rights Amend-
ment (ERA) was passed by the
92nd Congress and was sent on
to the states for ratification.
BUT THOSE monumental
Court decided welfare mothers
cannot use medicaid money for
abortions - leaving that choice
available only to the more
privileged. What's more, I find
the actions of right wing forces to
put women back on the pedestal,
back in the kitchen, and at the
end of the line, terrifying.
THESE THINGS frighten me.
They should be the concern of.
everyone, but they aren't, and
that too is scary.
Being a woman used to be de-
fined as being a wife and mother.
We have only recently moved
beyond the confines of that
narrow definition: Now, those
who choose other occupations are
no longer regarded as genetic or
social abberations.
The right-wing movement, en-
dorsed by the John Birch Society
and the Klu Klux Klan and repre-
sented by people like the out-
spoken Phyllis Shaffley, is at-
tempting to push women back in-
to the binding chrysallis from
which we have only recently
emerged.
THERE IS something
repulsive about a populace which
focuses on every syllable uttered
by Phyllis Schaffley and ignores
the many women striving for
equality or dismisses them as so
many kooks.
There are people who say
women have achieved their due
measure of equality. They say we
should now just shut up and count
our blessings. Or they say, real
progress takes time, and we can-
not change overnight.
Well, that overnight has been a
long, long-time in coming.
IT TOOK fifty years for
Congress to even consider a
provision barring discrimination
~on the basis of sex.
It took 200 years to begin to rec-
tify the age old devaluation of
working women.
The Houston Conference held in
November 1977 marked the first
national women's conference
since 1948, and the first ever
sponsored by the Federal Gover-
nment.
THE RESOLUTIONS designed
by that conference and sent to
Congress for implementation
have so far been ignored like
yesterday's refuse.
In that light, when last week
Friedan said, "The world is your
oyster, women of this genera-
tion," it was not re-assuring. I
envisioned that shell closing on
everything we want and need to
accomplish.
When women reach out to touch
the things we have won, we are
left clutchiig at space - empty,
airy space.
Betty Fiedan calls the women's
movement one of "the most far
reaching revolutions of all time."
But the revolution Friedan
calls far reaching has really only
just begun, and will mature only
through the continued efforts of
many women. Only when the
equality of women is accepted
throughout society, Betty
Friedan's "revolution" will
finally be attained.
Pauline Toole reports on
women 's affairs for the Daily.
LETTERS TO THE DAILY
'Hardly a government' is accurate
A regressive drinking bill
PERSON may soon have to be 19.
- years of .age before they can
regally partake of alcoholic beverages
in Michigan.
A bill raising the legal drinking age
:from the present 18 years of age has
;already passed the state Senate by an
:overwhelming margin and is now being
:considered by the Michigan House,
.where it is said to have equally strong
support.
The drinking age bill is a classic
example of regressive legislation,
'brought on by growing concern over
drunken driving among teenagers and
the presence of alcohol around high
schools.
While the lawmakers' concerns are
'no doubt sincere, someone should
..remind these people that they too were
once teenagers. Changing the legal age
limit on drinking will not make alcohol
any less available or attractive to 18
year olds, particularly since booze has
flowed freely to this age group since
1972. That was the year legislators
joined a nation-wide movementtowards
aJIMMY 41 B LL CARTER 141
HAVE NOSO SPOKEN SINCE C
greater rights for young adults by low-
ering the legal age from 21 years ,j 18.
Some lawmakers are actually con-
vinced that the age change will elim
inate the presence of alcohol in high
schools and reduce incidents of drunk
driving. But rules already exist pro-
hibiting the use of alcohol on school
grounds and while operating a motor
vehicle. If these laws aren't being
followed by certain individuals, what
makes state representatives so naive as
to think another law might be adhered
to?
-On a local level, adoption of the 18-
year-old drinking age might financially
threaten many of the music and enter-
tainment establishments near campus
and would be a boon to the false iden-
tification card business. Both of these
side effects would definitely blunt the
quality of life in Ann Arbor.
Freshpersons who will be directly
affected by a new law, as well as
anyone else who was 18 years old at one
time, should contact their state repre-
sentatives and ask them to tune into
reality.
pE1PiX o PF--N r eus iE
ECe'M6ER. - t4EWS I-5M
To The Daily:
As current and former mem-
bers of the LS&A Student Govern-
ment Executive Council, it was
with great interest that we read
the articleon your Editorial
,page, "LSA: Hardly a gover-
nment", by Steve Gold. Although
there is room for some argument
on a few of Mr. Gold's points, in
general, it is a very insightful ar-
ticle and presents an accurate
picture of the problems of our
government. Mr. Gold is to be
commended for this piece of
reporting.
These problems were not
suddenly discovered by Steve
Gold. Rather, certain members
have been aware of these
problems for quite some time.
Unfortunately, certain other
members, notably those involved
with the Program for
Educational and Social Change
party (PESC), seem to have an
interest in keeping things the way
they are. Because PESC controls
a majority of the Council, reform
measures are either watered
down or entirely defeated.
Examples of this occurred at
them meeting on the very day the
article appeared.
Mr. Gold pointed out the virtual
lack of an organized budgeting
decision making process. A
proposal was introduced to
establish a permanent budget
priorities committee to screen
requests for allocations and to
make recommendation to the
Council. This would shorten the
lengthy Council discussion on
each request and would also
allow the committee to evaluate
the requests with respect to the
Council's adopted priority guide-
lines, something the full Council
cannot possibly do during
meetings. Instead of adopting
this proposal, the majority PESC
established a temporary commit-
tee to re-write the priority guide-
Thin legality in CIA suit
By Jeffry Stein_
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WASHINGTON - The Justice
Department's breach of contract
suit against former CIA analyst-
turned-a uthorvFrank Snepp
hangs on "a very slim reed,"
says the embattled Snepp, author
of the recent book, Indecent In-
terval.
The suit, filed at the urging of
CIA director Stansfield Turner,
charges Snepp with violating his
CIA secrecy oath by writing an
unauthorized and highly critical
account of the agency's perfor-
mance in the last days of the
Vietnam war.
SNAPP CONTENDS that the
secrecy oath, which all CIA agen-
ts are required to take, will
probably not stand up in court.
That belief, he revealed in an in-
terview, is based on the fact that
Turner asked him to sign a
second secrecy pledge last year
when it was learned he was
writing the book.
Snepp said that last May 24,
CIA deputy general counsel John
Morrison wrote to him and asked
him to sign the second secrecy
agreement. "I wrote back," said
Snepp, "and asked, 'If the first
one is valid, why do I have to sign
a second one? You're confusing
me, and would you please explain
this anomality?' " The agency
never replied, said Snepp.
"That convinced me that, first
of all, the secrecy agreement
from their point of view was a
very slim reed on which to hang
Atty. Gen. Griffin Bell has'in-
dicated that the suit is intended to
test the legal force of the stan-
dard secrecy oath, "If you enter
into a written solemn contract
and breach it, that's a serious
matter," said Bell.
His comments seemed to in-
dicate that the suit may be aimed
at a broader concern than just the
Snepp book. CIA Director Turner
is known to be concerned about a
possible of CIAcbooks written by
numerous agents who are soon to
be dismissed from the agency's
Clandestine Services Division.
Many of the agents, angered by
Turner's brusque handling of the
staff reductions, have already
threatened to write revealing
books that may violate the
secrecy oath.
SNEPP dismissed the notion
that the suit against him could
prevent publication of other
books. ."It won't matter to them
(the other agents) what's hap-
pened to me," he said. "People
who write books will be
motivated by their resentment of
Turner."
Atty. Gen. -Bell contends the
oath is now a prior restraint on
freedom of speech. "He didn't,
have to take the job',, Bell told
reporters. "That's not censor-.
ship. There's no involuntary ser-
vitude in this country."
Snepp countered that "When
you join the agency you sign
away your right to protest things
nu learn ahntnt onivl iter on and
publicized book appeared last
December. "Colby has very
cleverly been leaking stories that
I worked for the Phoenix
program. . . to blow my
credability with anybody in the
center or left of center," said
Snepp. "Operation Phoenix" was
a controversial mass
assassination program run by
Colby in Vietnam. Snepp, a top
analyst on communist strategy,
did not work for the program.
Snepp said he had decided to
publish his book without CIA
authorization after he was
blocked from writing an inter-
agency account while still an em-
ployee. He said he concluded that
U.S. officials were leaking to the
press distorted versions of South
Vietnam's collapse which were
favorable to themselves.
"I can understand if you leak to
a journalist to promote a
diplomatic initiative," he said,
"but to do so for personal or
political reasons. . . is an abuse
of the secrecy system, and that's
what I object to."
Snepp charged in his book that
when Saigon fell to the North
Vietnamese, the CIA, among
other things, abandoned 70 per
cent of some 90,000 agents; failed
to burn its secret files, thus ex-
posing the names of agents to the
North Vietnamese; and left
behind $250 million in gold
bullion. He also charged that top
embassy CIA and administration
officials had been easily tricked
lines, the one portion of the
allocating process already
existing.
Mr. Gold also pointed out the
problem of members who do not
attend the meetings. The
proposal was introduced to
publish the attendance records of
the members. Once again, the
PESC fought reform and
voted down the pro-
posal. Steve Gold and The
Daily have provided a fine
service by helping to make the
students aware of the problems of
LS&A Student Government.
Hopefully, the students will now
be motivated to take an interest
in LS&A and to change things
when this term's election rolls
around.
-Mike Spirnak, member,
LSA&G-SG
Joel Klein, member
Irving Freeman, member
G. J. DiGiuseppe,
former member
Doug Steinberg,
former member-
Stacey, member
Jon Lauer, member
Brian Laskey,
Former president, LS&A-SG
*
mother's defense
To The Daily:
On February 1, the Michigan
Court of Appeals sent back to the
lower court a decision denying
custody of 11-year-old Jillian
Miller by her mother, UM
research assistant Margareth
Miller. The appeals court ordered
a new hearing, set for this Thur-
sday (23rd), including an inter-
view by the circuit court judge
with Jillian.
We are gay and non-gay mem-
bers of an ad hoc committee sup-
porting, this lesbian mother's
custody case. We urge all con-
cerned members of the com-
munity to show their support for
Maragreth Miller by apearing at
Oakland Court House, 1200 N.
Telegraph, Pontiac, at 8:45 a.m.
for informational picketing out-
side the courthouse. Proceedings
are set to begin at 9 a.m. Those
needing rides can call Dan at 994-
0473 (evenings).
We believe that without public
pressure and support, justice will
not prevail in this case. In the VA
nurses case, public indignation
ad.. 's adn the ora cto
t
rl