VENTURA : Activists Protest Ban on Gays in Military

Ventura County gay rights activists, civil rights attorneys and the director of a national group of gay veterans held a rally in Ventura on Friday to call for an end to the ban on gays in the U.S. armed forces.

With the U.S. Senate scheduled to begin hearings on the issue Monday, the rally at the Incognito bar on Thompson Boulevard was one of many such events being held across the country this weekend, organizers said.

The Ventura gathering of at least two dozen people featured a speech by former Marine Corps Sgt. Tom Swann.

Swann is a civilian employee at Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center who earlier this month filed a complaint against the Navy, charging that he was penalized for openly advocating a repeal of the ban on gays in the military.

In his talk Friday night, Swann urged Ventura County gay rights and civil rights activists to work together to pressure Congress to support President Clinton’s call to end the ban.

Other speakers included Miriam Ben-Shalom, national president of Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Veterans of America; Jamie Cox-Nowland, coordinator of the Ventura/Oxnard chapter of the National Organization for Women, and Alan Friel, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.