THE PUBLIC MIND: CLINTON SHOULDN'T LIFT GAY BAN IN MILITARY

To the Editor:

I have watched the news and am following President Clinton's attempts to lift the gay ban on the military. I have several points I wish to make but first I would like to respectfully ask this question of President Clinton: "How did you decide lifting the gay ban is the right thing to do when you have no idea what military life is?" I say this because when the president was asked to serve his country, he refused. Even worse, he now serves as commander in chief of the same organization he refused to serve in and now dictates what is best for us without regard for what the majority of people want. I thought the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. It is clear to the nation that the gay and lesbian community helped buy Mr. Clinton the presidency so now they rate special favors even when it infringes upon our rights.

On the Disney Channel I viewed President Clinton and his family and resent Mrs. Clinton being introduced as a "working mom." Since Mrs. Clinton has a career I'll tell you what a homemaker does we do the dirty work. We do a great deal of work with no paid vacations, sick days, and very little praise. That's not to mention we work 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. We do it because we love our children and families. If mothers choose to work, that's fine but don't discredit or insinuate we are less than the career-oriented mother who pays someone like me to raise her children while she works. Also, while on the program President Clinton mentioned that his daughter has only had two homes, with the governor's mansion being the last. The only point here is that once again he shows the difference between civilian and military families being that military families move often and many times during the school year, which puts our children at a disadvantage. We lead a difficult life in many respects and Mr. Clinton seems to be destructive to our very livelihood.

Lastly, I would like to say that ~if the president lifts the gay ban, that will only be the beginning. Next they will use taxpayer money to put sexually explicit homosexual books in our public school systems. In reality what this will do is take away my parental rights to raise my children with values and morals I think are essential to their growth and development. These books are not for the homosexual community's children because for obvious reasons they can't have children unless they are adopted, by previous marriage, or by artificial means. Once they are allowed to be married and receive tax credits they will begin to have their children through egg and sperm banks. I'm writing all of this because the president may not be aware of it since his daughter will be attending a private school ... and it's not for security reasons since she will have bodyguards no matter what school she attends. I think the whole Clinton agenda is unorthodox.

Renee L. Johnson

Cape Girardeau