One of President Bill Clinton's first acts as President was to reverse a half-century ban on homosexuals in the military. Facing strong opposition in Congress and among the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Clinton compromised and issued a "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" policy. Under the policy, recruiters cannot ask prospective enlistees about their sexual orientation, and commanders are forbidden to pursue investigations of homosexual conduct in the absence of compelling evidence.

Since the institution of the policy, which was codified by Congress in 1993, the discharge of gay and lesbian troops has increased by 67 percent. Pentagon officials attribute this increase to voluntary declarations of homosexuality, as an increasing number of homosexuals in the military have begun to challenge the policy by openly declaring their sexual preference. Recently President Clinton has declared that the policy is "out of whack" and doesn't work the way it was intended.

On One Hand?

It's time for the army to lift its ban on homosexuals completely. The current "don't ask, don't tell" policy is too vague. It's easy to say that the increase in discharges has resulted from voluntary declarations of sexual preference, but a better question is more difficult: are the statements being generated by official inquiries or harassment? A surge in alleged policy violations indicates that the policy actually encourages illegal harassment of suspected homosexuals.

Clearly, the compromise isn't working. Besides, the military is shooting itself in the foot by increasing the discharges of homosexual servicemembers. The armed forces already face recruitment shortages, and by discharging homosexual servicemembers in large numbers, they are losing men and women who are ready to serve our nation.

On the Other Hand?

Some naively assume that by abolishing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, they'll end discrimination against gays in the military. The practical truth is that under certain conditions, particularly in combat, open homosexuality can create discomfort and threaten unit cohesiveness. Vietnam veteran Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) states that enforcing open acceptance would jeopardize morale: "I am not going to sit here and tell you that if you had six cracker-jack people who had all kinds of experience and one person said they were gay ? and the unit went crazy?that I'm going to junk all five of them. It's just not practical."

The existence of openly homosexual servicemembers can lead to apprehension and resentment in units, and ultimately threaten military readiness and morale. Unfortunately, some conditions require commanders to use their own discretion in deciding whom to remove. Congress should not interfere with that by injecting the politics of gay rights into the military.

• On July 19, 1993, President Clinton unveiled his policy on homosexuals in the military calling it "Don't ask, Don't tell, Don't pursue."

• In 1998, the armed forces discharged 1,145 people for being homosexual. This number of discharges is a 92% increase in discharges since "Don't ask, Don't tell" was implemented.

• On January 11, 1999 the United States Supreme Court declined -for the fifth time- to hear cases challenging the constitutionality of the military's policy on homosexuals.

• On December 11, 1999, President Clinton said the "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy on homosexuality was a failure and accused military leaders of not enforcing it properly: "It's out of whack, and I don't think any serious person could say it's not."

• A March 2000 Servicemembers Legal Defense Network report stated that anti-gay harassment incidents increased 142 percent in the 1999 fiscal year.

CNN, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, PlanetOut