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And that one had to declare he or she was NOT a homosexual? Remember the Law was that you had to say to were NOT a homosexual. Furthermore is was (and is) a crime to lie on your enlistment papers so you HAD to say you were NOT a Homosexual to even enlist prior to the Adoption of "Don't' Ask, Don';t Tell". Furthermore Congress did NOT remove Homosexual relationships from the Criminal section of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
Remember the law as it WAS, not as you would like it to be. If the law that existed permitted Homosexuals to enlist then a Veto would have been in Order, but the law was it was ILLEGAL for a homosexual to enlist (Please note the Law, as written, only applies to the Navy and Air Force, the law did NOT prohibit the Army from taking Homosexuals in, the Army forbid it by regulation in 1982). The reason for the difference was the law passed in 1947 reorganizing the Military did several things, first in Separated the Air Force from the Army, second it formed the Department Of Defense as over and above the Departments of the Army, Air Force and Navy. Third the Act also further integrated the National Guard into the Army.
The National Guard Officers are appointed by the States (And a co-appointment is made by the Secretary of the Army, which has been the rule since the Dick Act of 1905). The officers of the Regular Army, Air Force, Marines and Navy are exclusively appointed by the Federal Government. Do to this difference, the Federal law made it clear who could be in the Air Force, Marines and Navy but left the Army to do the same by regulation. Thus you had a ban on Homosexual by statute from being in the Air Force, Marines and Navy, but left it up to the Army to do a similar ban by regulation (the Concern was more racial then Sexual orientation in 1947, The South rejected the whole concept of black Officers being appointed over Whites, while the rest of the Country was open to the Idea and the differences had already appear in the Appointment of Black Officers in Northern National Guard Units).
With the Civil Rights Movement the restrictions on Blacks quickly disappeared in all four Services, but the structure about who can be an officer or enlist in each service remained and still exists. Thus when Bill Clinton wanted to change the rules on Homosexuals in the Military he could do so by Regulation only to the Army, to change the policy for the Navy, Air Force and Marines he needed Congressional action (and the Professional Army Officer Corp was opposing any regulation permitting homosexuals into the Army, while homosexual still could NOT enlist into the Navy, Marines and Air Force).
My point is Bill Clinton needed Congressional Action, he could NOT do it himself given the ban was statutory as to the Air Force, Navy and Marines. Thus Bill Clinton ended up with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" for that is as far as the Democrats in Congress were willing to go. This was passed by the Democratic Congress that would go down in defeat in 1994, and one of the reason for that defeat was the fight over appealing the Complete ban on Homosexuals serving in the Military. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was the best Bill Clinton could get out of Congress for all four services and since it was a Congressional act all four Services had to accept it.
Bill Clinton could have veto the Bill, and then Homosexuals could not legally enlist in the Air Force, Navy or Marines. Bill Clinton could have change the rule for the Army, but the professional staff of the Army opposed such a change and he feared that Congress could add the Army to the list of services that it was illegal to be a homosexual to be in (And the GOP wanted to go that way and they had enough Democrats worried about re-election that it would have passed and Bill Clinton would face a dilemma veto the bill and give the GOP an even stronger hand in 1994 or sign it. The Democrats in Congress managed to kill the GOP Proposal by burying it is a committee, but it was in the hopper. Thus Bill Clinton did NOT dare do the Change for the Army, which he could, let he give the GOP more leverage in 1994.
We must remember Political reality in the 1990s. Bill Clinton was probably the best President the Democrats could have had in Office in the 1990s, he often out GOPed the GOP. We do NOT need that today, we need a President more to the left, but that was NOT the case in the 1990s, Bill Clinton was the ideal President, he contained the GOP wave and now that the Dot-Com Bubble and the Real Estate Bubble have burst, the country is seeing it must go to the left. You may get "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repealed by the next President, through if I was advising him I would NOT even bring it up. The Economy is what needs to be looked at and anything else is just a diversion from the Economy. That is why the GOP fought against Homosexuals all through the 1990s, it was because they are Anti-Homosexual, but because the GOP knows it will divert attention from any plan to fix the Economy. You fix the Economy, the Democrats will be in Control of the Federal Government for the next 40 years. Over that time period The Democrats may change this rule, but I would NOT do it now, concentrate on the Economy and dismiss social issues as a diversion to be avoided not addressed.
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