[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 28, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H1416]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     MISTREATMENT OF GAY, LESBIAN, AND BISEXUAL PATRIOTIC AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.


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  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I want to begin by 
expressing my agreement with the comments of the gentleman from 
Florida. One of the things he called attention to is a very curious 
publishing phenomenon. I have listened to many of my colleagues who are 
great supporters of free enterprise and who attribute the virtues of 
the market of free enterprise to all manner of people, mostly poor and 
working-class people who look for help. But apparently there is in 
every free market text ever written, Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises, 
et cetera, a secret footnote that can only be read by people who 
represent certain agricultural interests, which says to them, this free 
market stuff is great for poor people and for people who try to work in 
factories, but it does not apply to agriculture, because by some 
strange literary feat, the strongest supporters of an unrestrained free 
market system consistently make an exception for some protected and 
politically favored parts of agriculture.
  I will be voting for the amendment that the gentleman mentioned.
  Madam Speaker, I want to talk today about the recent report that was 
issued by the Inspector General documenting a fact that many of us 
already knew, and that is that the mistreatment of gay, lesbian, and 
bisexual patriotic Americans who have tried to serve their country has 
been one of the most discouraging aspects of this administration's 
record.
  Ordinarily, being able to say ``I told you so'' makes one feel pretty 
good. People pretend they do not like to say ``I told you so,'' but 
most people do. But in this case I say it sadly. I and others have been 
telling the President and the Secretary of Defense and others that for 
years now that they were allowing patriotic, honorable young men and 
women who happen to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual and who were motivated 
by a desire to serve their country to be mistreated.
  I do not fault President Clinton for the adoption of the ``don't ask, 
don't tell'' policy; I think he tried very hard to get a better policy. 
But he is culpable for the fact that once the policy was implemented, 
he did not effectively compel the military to live up even to the 
slight improvement it represented. Neither he nor Secretaries of 
Defense under him, particularly Secretary Perry and Secretary Cohen, 
have taken it seriously. I must say that I am particularly disappointed 
in Secretary Cohen from whom I expected more.
  For years, we have been telling the Secretary the facts that he now 
has to acknowledge, because a young man was tragically murdered, a 
young man who made the mistake of wanting to serve his country in the 
military, who had a flawless record, and who was tragically murdered by 
anti-gay bigotry, fostered by the policy of the administration. Only 
after that murder could we get the Secretary to say, okay, I will look 
into this, and he now has to acknowledge what we have been telling him 
along. But he must understand that part of his own actions have been 
part of a pattern all along.
  When the Navy outrageously violated the privacy of a young man named 
Timothy McVeigh, a patriotic member of the Navy, and a Federal judge 
ruled that they had violated his rights, the Defense Department 
resisted that ruling, sought to appeal it, and had to be overruled by 
the President, one of the few times that the President did get 
involved. Even now, in the aftermath of the murder of Mr. Winchell, we 
have the people at that base where absolute harassment was proven to 
have happened going unpunished. We had an officer at 29 Palms issue a 
viciously bigoted e-mail about gay people, and he goes unpunished.
  The fact is that the administration cannot pretend that it did not 
know this was happening, and it certainly has to give a more effective 
response, even now, with the Inspector General documenting what the 
Secretary should have known because people have told him this for 
years, his response is well, I am now appointing a commission and in 
July, at the end of July, I will consider implementing some corrective 
steps.
  There are things he can do right away, from his own personal 
involvement to some very specific policies. He has made a few steps. 
They have paled in insignificance to the kind of bigotry that is still 
there. Secretary Cohen has been there for over 3 years. Does he want to 
leave office with only the last couple of months of his stewardship of 
the Defense Department being a time when he paid serious attention to 
this?
  Let us be clear what we are talking about. Young Americans who happen 
to be gay, lesbian or bisexual who, in accordance with the policy that 
is now the law, want to serve their country, and they are treated 
brutally, unfairly; they are ridiculed, they are threatened, they are 
physically assaulted, and until now, they have not been able to get 
protection from the military they have sought to serve.
  Secretary Cohen has already waited too long. We cannot undo the 
terrible mistakes that were made by the Secretary that the President 
allowed to be made, and the President has an excellent record in 
confronting prejudice based on sexual orientation. He will get 
history's good judgment for having helped lead the fight against that 
prejudice. There is this one flaw.
  Madam Speaker, it is not too late in these remaining months of the 
administration to undo it, and I hope that they will.




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