76: Gays in the Military 1993 - Military Surveillance

However, for all that the military mostly got its on way, this was only a small battle won in a war it was otherwise losing for public opinion. With recent revelations about decades of misleading Congress to ensure massive increases in military budgets, and a spate of scandals about sexual misconduct in all branches of the armed forces, the military was finding itself subject to a new kind of public scrutiny regarding its morals and efficiency. While much of the public were unsure about the place of gays in the armed forces, the military’s own position had made itself seem distinctly backward at a time of increasing social progress and tolerance. For all the Gulf War a couple of years ago had bolstered much public support for the armed forces (yellow ribbons and all that), this national internal conflict at home only served to cement divisions about the armed services which had seemed to be on the point of repair and which are still outstanding.

71: Gays in the Military 1993 - Sam Nunn

As part of his campaign for election in 1992 Bill Clinton had promised to overturn the ban on homosexuals in the US military. In late January 1993, barely a week after Clinton took office, Democrat Senator Sam Nunn, the head of the Armed Services Committee, started making oppositional statements. The military had already made comments about homosexuals undermining morale and fitness to serve, and Nunn backed them up. Nunn also pointed out that Clinton could not merely sign it through if Congress opposed it. Clinton agreed to wait for 6 months of investigation before coming to a decision. Gays in the Military was one of the first major conflicts in attempting to implement Clinton’s new vision of America, alongside reform of the Health service and much else.