14 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE MARCH 10, 1995

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medal... now get out

by Kim I. Mills

Washington-Lt. Tracy Thorne says he's surprised and pleased that the Navy gave him an achievement medal even though it has been trying to kick him out since he went on national television in 1992 to say he's gay.

"I'm still befuddled by it all," he said after the February 28 ceremony at which he was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal. "My commanding officer said, 'What are we doing here? On the one hand, we're kicking you out; on the other, we're giving you a medal.'

Thorne, 28, said about 25 of his former colleagues attended the ceremony at Naval Air Systems Command in Arlington, Va., his last active-duty posting. Now a reservist living in Richmond, Va., Thorne has been waiting since July for Navy Secretary John Dalton to rule on the discharge recommendation.

Thorne said he did not know exactly how far up the chain of command the medal recommendation went. But he noted that the citation was signed "For the Secretary" by Vice Adm. W.C. Bowes, commander of the Naval Air Systems Command.

Lt. Cmdr. Kenneth Ross, a Navy spokesman, said Thorne's award "reflects what he

did at that command and what his commander thought of his work."

The citation recognizes Thorne's "professional achievement in the superior performance of his duties" between January and October 1994, while he was director of the Help Desk at Naval Air Systems Command information and technology division.

Thorne said his former commanding officer, Cmdr. Craig Luigart, recommended him for the medal.

"My commanding officer had a lot of integrity and all that mattered to him was whether you did you job in a professional manner and advanced the needs of the Navy," Thorne said.

Last July, a naval board of inquiry recommended that Thorne be discharged for violating the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. He has been waiting ever since for the Navy secretary to rule on the recommendation.

Dalton is not required to act within a specific amount of time, but "the idea here is to do this as expediently as possible," Navy spokesman Lt. Bill Spann said in July.

Thorne has said that if Dalton upholds the discharge, he will go to federal court to challenge the administration's policy on gays in the military.

Funding cuts partially restored

Continued from page 1

The National Commission on AIDS has estimated that 15 percent of all homeless people are HIV positive and that that number is rising fast.

About 33,000 people with AIDS now depend on the housing program, according to

the National Organizations Responding to AIDS, a coalition of AIDS groups.

The program, which Congress created in 1990, provides grant money to state and local governments to help meet the housing needs of people with the HIV virus and AIDS. It is administered by the Department of the Housing and Urban Development.

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