Powell Faces Protest Over Armed Forces’ Ban on Gays : Military: At Harvard commencement, he says that the ‘President has given us clear direction.’ The general opposes lifting the prohibition.

The nation’s highest-ranking military officer Thursday endured protest over his opposition to gays in the military as he told Harvard University graduates and alumni that the United States must not demobilize its forces and turn its back on a world that continues to look to Washington for leadership.

Gen. Colin L. Powell, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first black to fill that post, accepted an honorary doctoral degree before a sea of pink balloons printed with the message, “lift the ban.” The controversy over gays has dogged Powell’s final months as the principal military adviser to the President. But in a speech to Harvard alumni later, Powell addressed the subject only in passing.

“The President (Clinton) has given us clear direction . . . and I believe we are near a solution” to the issue, Powell said. “Whatever is decided, I can assure you that the decision will be faithfully executed to the very best of our ability.”

In the course of the day, thousands of Harvard graduates, faculty members and alumni carried the pink balloons during commencement festivities in historic Harvard Yard to protest the armed forces’ prohibition against the service of openly gay men and lesbians. Each of the 7,000 balloons represented a gay or lesbian person expelled from the service for homosexuality during Powell’s four-year tenure as chairman.

The protests, including scattered heckling during Powell’s speech, remained peaceful and even stately, with gay activists urging their allies to respect Powell’s right to speak and to refrain from disruptions.

But there has been sharp debate, especially among the school’s politically active student body, over the university’s decision to grant Powell an honorary degree and to invite him to deliver the commencement address.

The controversy has particularly roiled Harvard’s black community, which appeared torn between its respect for Powell’s path-breaking role in the U.S. military and his vocal opposition to the Administration’s bid to lift the ban on gays.

The Administration and gay activists have argued that lifting the ban is a civil rights issue akin to President Harry S. Truman’s decision to end racial segregation in the U.S. military in 1948. But Powell and other military leaders, convinced that lifting the ban will erode the combat effectiveness of military units, have rejected the comparison.

Harvard students, faculty and alumni continued to debate the policy as Powell, dressed not in cap and robe but in his Army green military uniform, conducted a daylong round of ceremonial duties.

While most students interviewed said that they believe the military’s ban on homosexuals should be lifted, many praised Powell and some expressed doubt that the pink balloons and mortarboards bearing the message “lift the ban” were appropriate. Most conceded that Harvard commencements appear to invite controversy and said that Powell’s presence followed in that tradition.

“I’m in favor of lifting the ban, but I don’t want to come down on anyone who’s achieved so much” as Powell, said 1993 graduate Kristan Singleton of the U.S. Virgin Islands. “But there would have been protest no matter who was here.”

Among blacks at Harvard, many of whom strongly support the lifting of the ban, the controversy over Powell has posed a particularly difficult dilemma.

“It’s really a sad thing--it’s been so fractious,” said Naomi Andre, a black graduate student in musicology from New York City. “It has split the African-American community here. I think we want to support him. It’s wonderful to see someone African-American in his position. But many of us also take issue with his position on this.”

Powell, in addition to playing down his conflict with Clinton over the issue, applauded the direction the Administration is taking in recasting U.S. foreign and defense policies for a post-Cold War world. He promised that further reductions in U.S. military spending can be and are being made, and he echoed Clinton in declaring that “the restoration of our own economy must be the foundation stone of our role in the new world.”