Ted Kennedy on Clinton, Byrd, Sex Slaves, and Gays in the Military

“I’ll never forget one of my first meetings with Clinton in the White
House. He had walked into a firestorm over the question of whether gays
should be allowed to serve in the military. He’d invited all the
Democratic members of the Armed Services Committee to this gathering.
He went around the room, asking everyone’s opinion about gays in the
military. Some senators gave long answers. Some were terse. Some were
flowery and revealing, and others held their cards close to their vest.
It added up to a very lengthy meeting. I remember it well partly
because Vicki and I had tickets to the ballet that night. Baryshnikov
was dancing at the Warner Theatre. I’d told Vicki to go ahead and that
I’d meet her there when I could. But the meeting went on and on, for
more than two hours – extraordinary by White House standards. Finally,
my turn to speak came. I made a brief comment in support of allowing
gays in the military, in which I mentioned that all the arguments
against such a policy had already been made…

…Well, I was wrong about
that. Almost all the arguments had been used before. The last senator
to speak was Robert Byrd, and he came up with a new one on all of
us…..He informed us, with many ornate flourishes, that there had been a
terrible problem in ancient Rome with young military boys turned into
sex slaves. I don’t remember the exact details, but I think the story
involved Tiberius Julius Caesar being captured and abused and used as a
sex slave. He escaped and then years later he sought vengeance and
killed his captors. Anyway, it was something like that. The room fell
silent. The senator continued. Then President Clinton stood up. His
response was short and sweet. ‘Well,’ he said. ‘Moses went up to the
mountain, and he came back with the tablets and there were ten
commandments on those tablets. I’ve read those commandments. I know
what they say, just like I know you do. And nowhere in those ten
commandments will you find anything about homosexuality. Thank y’all
for coming.’ He ended the meeting and walked out of the room.”