James C. Darby, GLBVA National President, responded to the introduction of this legislation saying, “Some of the stories that have come out of the Pentagon over the last month or so allude to the fact that changes are being considered and I feel that our meetings with the Pentagon and White House last month had a definite impact on what is being discussed at this time. During our meetings with officials at both the Pentagon and White House, we discussed the possibility of a repeal or modification of Article 125 and in neither meeting was there an objection to the idea. We commend Representative Barney Frank on his swift action and continued support for the rights of all Americans in the Armed Services and we whole-heatedly support him in this effort.”

Representative Frank’s Bill, cited as the ‘Anti-Hypocrisy Act of 1997’, would amend Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice by adding the word ‘nonconsensual’ to the article, thereby preserving the military’s ability to use this clause to prosecute servicemembers on the charge of sodomy in cases involving rape and/or coercion. Further, it would amend Articles 133 and 134, the ‘General Articles’ which are most often used at the discretion of military commanders to charge servicmembers for adultery and other acts considered to be indecent, would be amended to specifically state that ‘consensual acts of a sexual nature between adults that does not involve compensation and cohabitation by adults shall not be the basis for prosecution’.

“In the past this has been considered strictly a homosexual issue and no one would have dared to introduce legislation to outlaw the policing of servicemembers bedrooms”, says Edward Clayton, National Vice-President of Public Affairs for GLBVA. “But in recent weeks we have seen this archaic regulation used just as arbitrarily against two heterosexual servicemembers and now suddenly they are singing the same old song we have been singing for years – It’s just not right!”.