Military policy is a farce

President Clinton's military policy of "don't ask don't tell" is a temporary solution to a permanent problem.

There are many cases in which gay, lesbian and bisexual officers are subject to ridicule because even though they are told that it is OK to be themselves and serve this country, no one wants to know about it.

In other words, it is not OK.

Recently, the case of Margarethe Cammermeyer was considered moot according to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Before the policy to "be gay but don't say it" was in effect, she was discharged. Then she was reinstated but she wanted the discharge to be stricken from her records. But because she was reinstated, the court considers this a dead issue and will not grant her this wish.

Another officer, navy man Keith Meinhold, was also discharged but his case was not appealed under the new policy.

Until officers of any sexual orientation can live their personal lives the way they see fit, gays being able to truly represent themselves and serve in the military at the same will always be an issue.

This don't ask don't tell rule skirts the issue of the real problem that needs to addressed.

This policy is no protection for these people who want to serve this country. Of course, this has no bearing on what sort of decisions will be made in the future.

History has proved that there are no guarantees to the enforcement of the laws passed in this country.

For example, though African Americans were given the right to vote in 1916, Jim Crow Laws made it possible for voters to be discriminated against. Polls were placed in undisclosed locations so that many blacks did not know where they were to go to cast their votes.

Since affirmative action was enacted, many women and people of color have been an equal chance at getting a job.

But they still question whether they were not hired because they just weren't good enough or if the state of who they are still irritates a boss here and there.

This hush-hush policy isn't even a law. It is merely a guideline the president wants military officials to follow.

Until there is something completely valid in the military's constitution, gays and lesbians have to hide in the closet, denying part of themselves in order to serve the same country that tells them something is wrong with them.

Erica Miller is the Opinion Editor of the Daily Forty- Niner.