WASHINGTON — The video begins, as many do these days, with an ominous warning, in bold white letters on a plain black background: "The following program contains sexually explicit material. Viewer discretion advised."
But this film is different from the usual video store fare. A 15-minute video labeled "The Gay Agenda," it is being circulated among members of Congress by active-duty military personnel as part of the dispute over whether gays should be allowed in the military. A Marine spokesman said Wednesday that Gen. Carl Mundy Jr., the commandant of the Marine Corps, also has distributed copies to other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"The Marines are passing it out like popcorn," says a former Pentagon official.
The professionally produced program depicts partly clad homosexuals writhing on floats in a parade, a physician providing a graphic analysis of the asserted medical dangers of homosexual acts and children apparently crying at the sight of what are depicted as leering gays.
Col. John Shotwell, chief spokesman for the Marine Corps, flatly denied that the service has any responsibility for the film. But whoever is behind it, the no-holds-barred video illustrates the intensity of the lobbying effort surrounding President Clinton's proposal to end a decades-long ban against gays in the military. The battle has exploded almost overnight into a full-scale war over social values that is pitting two formidable lobbies--the military and gays groups--against one another.
For gays, the skirmish is unlike any other.
"These are subjects that have been in the closet, if you will, for 50 years, and finally we are having them aired," said Tom Stoddard, a New York attorney who once headed Lambda, a leading gay rights organization.
Stoddard said that gays have been lobbying for their cause "the old-fashioned way"--by sending cards and letters and making telephone calls and by visiting lawmakers from their states and home districts.
They also have been enlisting aid from liberal groups, such as People for the American Way, which has defended gay rights activists against criticism from veterans' groups and the religious right.
David Mixner, a prominent gay activist and Clinton fund raiser, predicted that the battle could prove decisive in determining the strength of the gay and lesbian movement.
