CLINTON'S MOCKERY OF FAMILY THE ISSUE.

Byline: Steven A. Schwalm

ACCORDING to the conventional wisdom, President Clinton's sexual misbehavior is a purely private affair, immaterial to matters of state. Even the president's political foes are studiously avoiding the issue of sex, granting that it is not a fit matter for judging the chief executive's fitness.

Set aside, for the moment, the fact that the president's behavior occurred in the Oval Office with a subordinate and employee of the federal government. Does the private conduct of our leaders have nothing to do with their conduct of public business?

In the case of President Clinton, social policy closely mirrors now-public ``private sexual'' behavior. Both are rooted in the ethos of the sexual revolution, where sex is free of obligations or restraints, heedless of consequences and never a fit matter for moral judgment by others - even when others must pay for it.

Consider the record: On only his second day in office, the president signed orders allowing abortion referrals by federally funded clinics; abortions in U.S. military hospitals; and federal funding for international ``family planning'' groups involved in abortions and fetal tissue testing.

The Clinton administration approved the abortifacient RU-486, and provided the legal and rhetorical defense of partial-birth abortion. It gave us Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders and her admonitions to teach children about ``safe sex'' in the form of masturbation, homosexuality and contraception.

The current Surgeon General, David Satcher, headed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1994 when it unleashed a taxpayer-financed $800,000 national ad campaign aimed at our nation's youth. One ad said, ``Latex condoms are available in different sizes, colors and textures. Find the one that is right for you.''

One of the president's first major legislative efforts was an attempt to recruit avowed homosexuals into the military. His administration claims more than 100 homosexual political appointments, including Virginia Appuzzo, assistant to the president for management and administration; Richard Socarides in the Clinton-created position of White House liaison to homosexuals; Elaine Kaplan as head of the Office of Special Counsel; and Bruce Lehman at the Patent Office. At the White House June 5, Vice President Al Gore swore in Fred Hochberg as No. 2 man at the Small Business Administration - on Hochberg's grandfather's Bible - while his male lover stood by.

Clinton is the first president to honor homosexual groups such as the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Teacher's Network (aimed at kids), the first to speak at an event hosted by a homosexual political group (Human Rights Campaign) and the first to grant an interview to a ``gay'' magazine. His administration is the first to grant security clearances to open homosexuals, to grant asylum to foreign homosexuals and to nominate a homosexual activist, James Hormel, for a post as U.S. ambassador. Virtually every federal department and agency now officially honors homosexuality by sponsoring ``gay pride'' events. The president has supported legislation giving special rights to homosexuals in the private sector and given them affirmative action in federal employment.

Clinton has been criticized for his vagaries on issues, but his policies related to family and sex have unerringly followed the guiding star of the sexual revolution. And, considering his behavior, how could he respect laws based on a traditional view of sexuality?

How could someone who has made a mockery of his own family understand the view of Americans who believe that the family is the linchpin of civilization? How could someone whose sex life can become a public dirty joke understand those who hold sex as a sacred part of the inviolable union of one man and one woman in marriage?

The president's first sexual encounter with Monica Lewinsky, according to The New York Times, took place on the day he signed a ``Family Week'' proclamation, which declares a ``shared commitment to the importance of family life.'' Even now, he proposes that his handling of the scandal can serve to ``strengthen families.''

Despite this lip service, Bill Clinton has done more than anyone else to undermine families and traditional morality. His personal sexual practices might have been frivolous but the public policies consistent with them are no laughing matter.