Don't Ask -- Duck

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WASHINGTON, D.C.: Citing Pentagon figures showing the number of homosexuals who are forced to leave the military at a five-year high, a new study says that the three-year-old "don't ask don't tell" policy has actually resulted in even more harassment of gay and lesbian soldiers. "In 1996, the armed forces repeatedly excused violations of current law, including witch hunts, seizure of personal diaries and threatening service members with prison unless they accused others as gay," the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network said Wednesday. Folks at the Pentagon aren't terribly surprised by the news, says TIME's Mark Thompson. "The people I've spoken to are saying this is what they expected. I don't think they will do much to react to it," he said. The reason? Many believe that President Clinton's awkward 1994 compromise on gays in the military is a fatally flawed policy. Tanya Domi, who was the chief lobbyist for military freedom issues under the national Gay and Lesbian Task Force when "don't ask don't tell" was enacted, feels it was doomed from the start. "I knew that harassment would not stop, it's an unenforceable policy," she says. "Once you're accused, how do you prove that you're sexually inactive?"