Army private Barry Winchell was bludgeoned to death in an antigay assault at Fort Campbell, Ky., in 1999. Two soldiers are serving time for the crime, and Showtime is airing a film based on the attack, Soldier's Girl, May 31. Now the base commander is up for promotion and gay groups are trying to stop it.
An antigay attitude permeated Fort Campbell in 1999; drill sergeants made antigay remarks, similar graffiti was common. This happened despite the fact that 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' a policy meant to allow gays to serve in the military albeit not openly, had been in effect for six years.
The Pentagon cleared base commander Major General Robert T. Clark of any wrong doing in the incident. But the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) called the report a whitewash.
It said that Clark should be held accountable for the conditions that led to Winchell's death and to the fears that other gay soldiers had for their own safety. More than a hundred soldiers at Fort Campbell declared their own orientation and left the service in the months following Winchell's murder.
SLDN and Winchell's mother Patricia Kutteles objected to Clark's promotion to three stars when it was first proposed last fall. Their questions slowed down the Senate confirmation process until Congress adjourned.
President Bush renominated him in March. This time Clark agreed to meet with Mrs. Kutteles, something he had avoided doing over the last four years. But Kutteles said that at the meeting last week, Clark took no responsibility for the atmosphere that contributed to her son's death. She sees him as unfit for promotion.
Mrs. Kutteles met on May 16 with the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Warner, R-Va., and he agreed to hold a second hearing on Clark's nomination for promotion. That likely will take place in mid-June, after the Memorial Day recess.
Most hearings are conducted in open session but this one, like the first, will be behind closed doors. Several Democratic Senators have expressed concern with the nomination.
Mrs. Kutteles believes that Warner still has an open mind on the subject, though she would prefer that the meeting be an open session and that she and SLDN be allowed to testify on the record at that session.
Steve Ralls, spokesman for SLDN, is 'encouraged' by the delay and by the willingness of several Senators to meet with Mrs. Kutteles to discuss the matter. While he wished that the Bush administration had not renominated Clark, he noted the White House has made no comments on the nomination and does not appear to be lobbying for it.
There also is 'a lack of defense for Clark from conservatives' who one would expect to support the general, said Ralls. Some look askance at the underage drinking that took place on the base, and contributed to the incident, as a breakdown in good order and discipline under his command.
All of this is 'sending a loud message to other generals' that the atmosphere has changed, said Ralls. 'Generals now know that they well be held accountable for an antigay atmosphere within their command.'
Bisexual Leads U.S. YWCA, Stirs Debate
Canada's National Post reported May 23 that conservatives are outraged that a bisexual feminist will lead the YWCA in U.S.
'The hiring of a pro-abortion, bisexual feminist activist ... has prompted accusations the service group for women has strayed too far from its Christian roots,' the paper reported.
Former NOW President Patricia Ireland took over as chief executive with a mandate to 'transform the organization and initiate an aggressive national advocacy agenda based on its twin goals of women's and girls' empowerment and racial justice,' said YWCA chairwoman Audrey Peeples.
'I think basically the YWCA has come out of the closet,' said Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition. The group wants Health and Human Services to withhold $114-million in YWCA grants.
'I'm not the head of a Christian organization,' Ireland said. 'I'm the head of a social justice women's organization.'
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