Pentagon Reviewing Policy on Gays

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon opened a formal review this week into allegations by gay rights advocates that military investigators are wrongfully conducting aggressive inquiries into the sex lives of gay service members and that commanders have turned a blind eye to harassment.

The review, launched without fanfare Monday, is aimed at ensuring correct enforcement of rules that were painstakingly negotiated with military leaders and Congress during President Clinton’s first months in office, defense officials said.

Gay activists welcomed the move as a first step.

Under the policy, dubbed “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the military agreed to stop searching out gays, provided that they kept their sexual orientation private. Being homosexual is no longer a bar to military service, but acknowledging it or engaging in homosexual activity can trigger expulsion.

Since the regulations took effect in early 1994, the number of gays dismissed from military service has climbed 42%, reaching 850 last year, a five-year high, according to Defense Department statistics.

The Air Force attributed much of the increase to more trainees opting out of service by proclaiming they are gay.

The Navy blamed delayed processing of cases temporarily frozen when the policy was introduced.