Congressman Robert Dornan of Orange County is a perverted human being. He is twisted up and hateful inside. He probably has many hatreds, but he has successfully grabbed center stage with one in particular: his homophobia.
Dornan, who chairs the Military Personnel subcommittee, successfully pushed through a rider to the military appropriations bill that requires the armed forces to discharge all members who are HIV-positive. Note that a large percentage, perhaps the majority, are heterosexuals who got HIV through unprotected sex or through transfusions, and the rest are protected by President Clinton's "Don't ask--don't tell" policy, which Dornan fiercely opposed. Dornan doesn't care who his victims are; they are all evil to him (he wrote a letter to the Times claiming that most of them had violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice in one way or another, or they wouldn't have HIV.)
Until now, military policy dictated that HIV sufferers, like cancer victims, could continue to serve as long as they were physically capable, and then could retire with full benefits for themselves and their families. Dornan is forcing them to leave even though able to serve, and additionally is stripping their families of military health benefits. He is a cruel human being, without a hint of compassion in his character, and his law is effectively the "bill of attainder" which the Constitution prohibits--a law that convicts people because of their blood and not because of their actions. He believes that all HIV victims are homosexuals, and that all homosexuals deserve punishment (he once said that "every lesbian spear-chucker" is against him.)
President Clinton reluctantly signed the law, announcing that he thought it unconstitutional and ordering the Justice Department not to defend it in a lawsuit. (Side issue: Why couldn't Clinton do the same thing for the CDA?) Other members of Congress have introduced bills to repeal Dornan's act of hatred.
I hope that this is a momentary nightmare, and that reason will prevail. What must not get lost in all this is that there is a twisted human being in Congress, trying to use the legislative process to carry out an agenda of hate. Please send Congressman Dornan a fax at (202)225-2762 to let him know what you think.