EDITORIAL
Military's gay ban
cannot be justified
Gays and guns. If you listen to members of the de
fense establishment, you'd know the two don’t mix. If
you listen to anybody with a shred of common sense,
you’d know otherwise.
The controversy surrounding homosexuals in the
military has come to a boil during the past week, as
President Bill Clinton attempts to overturn the policies
enforcing their ban from the armed services Most re
cently, Clinton has agreed to do nothing for six months,
allowing the military to prepare itself for "The nay."
What, exactly, is going to change in the next six
months that hasn't changed in the past 40 years ts un
clear. The likely answer is nothing. Big surprise.
The military defends the ban, saying homosexuals
will lower morale and disrupt the smooth, oiled-ma
chine-like workings of the armed forces.
Why? Because, according to the military, hetero
sexual members in the military just can't get along with
homosexual members.
I no reniagon nas. oi course, onorou no eviueuce iu
support its policy of discrimination. It's just pretty sure
the mix wouldn't work. The argument used to be that
homosexuals wore a security risk. That has since been
proved false and is no longer being offered as a defense.
The new rationale points out that the military dis
criminates against other people, why not homosexu
als? Peoplo who are too fat, too skinny, too tall, too
short, flat-footed, have bad vision or hearing, have
chronic ailments, have physical deformities or are sin
glo parents are excluded from military service.
Unlike the homosexual ban. those listed above are
legitimate. People who fall into one of those categories
cannot perform the duties required. Overweight people
cannot fit through the hatches on a ship. Flat-footed
people can't march very far. Inability to hoar an order
could put lives at risk. Single parents can’t just leave
their children on a moments notice.
So what is it homosexuals can’t do? Pull a trigger?
Throw a grenade? Navigate a ship? Fly a plane? Die in
battle? Right now. only the last question can be an
swered "yes."
Perhaps homosexuals will increase the transmission
of HIV tnroughout the armed forces. But heterosexual
members aren’t pure and innocent virgins whose eccle
siastical lifestyles keep them out of danger.
Even if tho ban is lifted, the Uniform Code of Military
Justice prohibits sodomy, and sexual contact is prohib
ited for all people within military installations, Even if
homosexuals were admitted, their alleged "promiscu
ity” would be forbidden by the UCMJ — as it is for het
erosexuals as well.
Homosexuals in the military will face a long struggle
for acceptance, just as other minorities have and con
tinue to do. Homosexuals are patriots, too. and have
every right to "defend tho Constitution of the United
States from all enemies, foreign and domestic."
Oregon Daily
Emerald
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LETTERS
Grain of salt required
There is another student newspaper being pub
lished on campus i ailed Thr Student Insurgent
and 1 would like to encourage those of you who
read it to take much of what it has to say with the
proverbial "grain of salt."
I have noticed it has in the past printed false
and misleading information. Apparently it is not
as concerned with journalistic accuracy as it is
with verbal flamboyancy. As consumers of print
ed media. 1 would like to caution you to remem
ber to retain a sense of critical objectivity with
anything you read
Peggy Dee Southard
Graduate Student
Sociology
Credibility gone
Hob Pack wood's determination not to resign his
Senate seat does not prevent Oregonians’ resign
ing from him. Let him know, with reminders as
long as necessary, that wo might Find him helpful
on a particular issue, but we deem it not worth
while to get in touch with him because his credi
bility is gone.
Whatever the gravity of his conduct toward
women, his attempt at cover-up, like Richard
Nixon's in Watergate, has been worse It alone
ought to undo him Apparently he either has not
read or has forgotten the moral in Aesop's fable
about the boy who cried wolf.
Packwood may vote in a way helpful to our side
of a particular issue, but we cannot be sura the
vote will be for the right reason or what the vote
will be until he casts it. Mis overriding concern
apparently is to be elected and stay elected. That
posture lacks reliable moral substance and
deserves our regarding him as if he were no longer
in the Senate.
Orval Etter
Eugene
Excited about Otis
I sort of enjoyed reading the oh-so-juicy article
about Otis Scarborough (ODE . Jan. 26). It was at
best entertaining At worst, well, it was pretty
much what I would expect from a person in the
business of enforcing someone else's laws — the
bad power trip.
What I didn't enjoy was the Emerald of Jan. 26.
Seventy-five percent of the paper dealt with vari
ous harassment charges concerning a couple of
guys getting excited. Also, the much-too-long. but
still juicy, original article about Otis was nearing
overkill.
If Sen. Packwood won't resign his post, what
makes everyone here on campus think Otis
should? Let's see less tabloid, bandwagon articles
please.
And concerning Martin Fisher’s commentary
(ODE . |an. 26). down with the conspiracy.
Jefrey Foutch
Communications
My favorite Martin
i'd like to join the masses in giving Martin Fish
er two thumbs up and a Wayne Gamphell nod for
scoring points in his opinion column "Sorry, but
I'm not a Euro-American" {ODE, Jan. 26).
Nice (.all. I've frequently dismissed the saucy
term "non-Hispanic white," slamming my fist on
a nearby Formica tabletop, shouting. "I'm a 'Meri
can."
Actually, I liked the whole issue on Tuesday.
Good job people. The paper is looking better.
Bryan Wastby
Political Science
Quality over quantity
In response to Bob Weigel's letter "Abortion
wrong; no argument" (ODE . Jan. 20), 1 fail to see
why logic dictates that abortion results in the
murder of a human being.
What makes this topic so debatable is that there
are few facts and many opinions. The facts as I see
them are, when a sperm and egg meet, a potential
is created. The cells that develop have e potential
to become a person.
After many months, that potential is realized,
and you have your fetus that is able to survive
outside the womb and take on the world.
Up to a certain point, though, there is only a ,
potential. This might be equatable to a political
science major who is intense in his or her studies
and solely intends to become a lawyer upon grad
uation from college. This person is not a lawyer,
even though they may have all the qualifications
to eventually become one. I wouldn't hire tlyit
college student to act as my legal representative,
just as I don't consider early stages of growth to be
a human being.
Looking at the quality of life that some of the
unwanted children of this world face, I don't find
a inoral dilemma in removing a potential from a
mother. 1 would rather see care given to the
already unloved and unwanted children. It is my
belief that quality of life is more important than
quantity, and the world already has enough quan
tity.
Eric Bergreen
Post-Baccalaureate
Biology
You can’t be serious
1 write in response to Bob Weigel's letter on
Wednesday. Jan. 27, in which he claimed he had
"never tried drugs, booze or sex" and was still "a
happy man.” Come on Bob. No sex?
Andrew O'Connell
Student