Gay Officer May Be Ousted After 18 Years In The Air Force

An 18-year Air Force officer and fighter pilot is being booted under the Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on gays, the officer revealed last night during a prime-time television interview.
Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, an F-15E Strike Eagle pilot assigned to Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, where he called an investigation board's finding that his homosexuality harmed unit morale, good order and discipline "absolutely false."
"About 4,000 people are assigned to Mountain Home Air Force Base, and only about 10 people on the entire base even knew of my case up until this very moment," he said. "Those were my immediate chain of command, a couple of attorneys in the legal office, and a couple of officers in the Office of Special Investigations. Not one single person that I'm assigned with in my squadron, or that I fly with in my fighter squadron, knew about this case until this moment."
Fehrenbach said that when the Air Force first made its case against him and moved to have him discharged he just wanted it over with.
"I was devastated, absolutely devastated. The Air Force has been my life. I was born on an Air Force base. I was faced with the end of my life as I knew it," he said. "I wanted a quick, quiet, fair, honorable discharge."
But he said he decided to fight the discharge because he believes the policy is wrong, and that his fighting it might help other people.
He said he has been disappointed that President Barack Obama has backed off on his promise while a candidate to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
In a statement issued yesterday by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis called the Air Force's move to discharge Fehrenbach "an utter waste of talent."
"The Colonel has a sterling combat record, does a fantastic job for his country every day and has all the medals and job performance evaluations to prove it. He did not disrupt unit cohesion or good order. But the bottom line is he's gay, so he's out," Sarvis said.
Fehrenbach's discharge comes two years before he would have been able to take a 20-year retirement.
Fehrenbach said he has nine Air Medals, including one for valor for assaulting an Iraqi ambush position while under heavy anti-aircraft fire during the first days of the invasion. He told Maddow that he and his wingman spotted a dozen armored personnel carriers laying in wait for advancing U.S. troops on their way to Baghdad.
The wingman's plane suffered a malfunction which made it impossible for him to accurately fire his weapons, Sarvis said, so in addition to unleashing his own he guided the wingman so that he could fire on target, as well, all while under fire.
The two knocked out the ambush, he said.
from Military.com

Discharged Gay Sailor Called Back To Active Duty

On his wedding night in July 2004, then-Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Knight finally accepted a truth he had fought against for years: he was gay.
Almost immediately, he moved to get his marriage annulled. He apologized to the woman he’d married. And when it came time to explain his changing circumstances to the Navy, he left nothing out. Under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, he was quickly discharged from the service.
But now — whether through a clerical oversight or what some claim is an unwritten change in policy to keep more gay servicemembers in the ranks at a time of war — Jason Knight is back on active duty.
Since promoted to petty officer second class, Knight is finishing a scheduled one-year tour in Kuwait with Naval Customs Battalion Bravo. And, already kicked out of the Navy once, he sees no need to hide his sexual orientation.
“I thought it was a joke at first,” he said, remembering the day he received his recall orders. “It was the ultimate kick in the ass. But then I thought, there isn’t much they can do to me they haven’t done the first time.”
It was comments by Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that spurred Knight to come out publicly a second time. In defending the military’s policy, Pace called homosexual acts immoral and contrary to military values.
“Though I respect [Pace] as a leader, it made me so mad,” Knight said.
“I spent four years in the Navy, buried fallen servicemembers as part of the Ceremonial Guard, served as a Hebrew Linguist in Navy Intelligence, and received awards for exemplary service,” he wrote in a letter to Stripes. “However, because I was gay, the Navy discharged me and recouped my 13k sign-on bonus. Nine months later, the Navy recalled me to active duty. Did I accept despite everything that happened? Of course I did, and I would do it again. Because I love the Navy and I love my country. And despite Pace’s opinion, my shipmates support me.”
Those shipmates include his direct supervisors in the customs battalion.
“He’s better than the average sailor at his job,” said Bill Driver, the leading petty officer of Knight’s 15-person customs crew in Kuwait. “It’s not at all a strange situation. As open as he is now, it was under wraps for quite a while. It wasn’t an issue at work.”
Another sailor with the detail, Petty Officer 1st Class Tisha Hanson, works in admin and has had to process discharges for homosexual sailors before.
“I’ve obviously never heard of something like this happening before,” she said of Knight’s return to active duty. “But it doesn’t bother me. The Navy tends to keep people who don’t want to be here, but Jason does.”
In Knight’s case, he was given an honorable discharge when booted from the Navy on April 4, 2005. Though it’s not widely known, a clause in the military’s policy on discharging gays allows commanders discretion on what form of discharge to give a gay servicemember.
In many cases, a legal expert at an advocacy group working to repeal the policy said, that’s exactly what happens.
“The vast majority of [discharge papers] give the narrative reason as ‘homosexual conduct,’” said Kathi Westcott, the deputy director for law at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in Washington, D.C.
But, “individual commanders sometimes think the servicemember is a good troop, and they don’t want them to begin their next life with a ‘black mark,’” she said.
Westcott said that Pace’s comments — and a study showing declining numbers of discharges for gay servicemembers — have reignited debate about the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
The renewed debate includes suggestions that the Pentagon is less interested in kicking out gay servicemembers during war. Pentagon stats show that discharges of gay servicemembers dropped to 612 in 2006. The peak of such discharges was in 2001, when 1,273 were reported.
The numbers have fallen steadily each year — from 906 in 2002 to 787 in 2003, and on down. At a time when the Pentagon is struggling to meet recruiting goals, many point to the numbers as a wartime trend. Others reject that claim. And the majority of servicemembers are still opposed to openly serving gay troops.
Defenders of the policy say even, or especially, during war, the harm outdoes the good.
“I believe polarization of personnel and breakdown of unit effectiveness is too high a price to pay for well-intentioned but misguided efforts to elevate the interests of a minority of homosexual servicemembers above those of their units,” Sen. John McCain, a presidential candidate and former Navy officer, wrote in an April 16 letter explaining his support of the policy.
“Most importantly, the national security of the United States, not to mention the lives of our men and women in uniform, are put at grave risk by policies detrimental to the good order and discipline which so distinguish America’s armed services.”
Still, Pentagon stats show that only .3 percent of all discharges are for homosexual conduct.
In many cases, a legal expert at an advocacy group working to repeal the policy said, that’s exactly what happens.
“The vast majority of [discharge papers] give the narrative reason as ‘homosexual conduct,’” said Kathi Westcott, the deputy director for law at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in Washington, D.C.
But, “individual commanders sometimes think the servicemember is a good troop, and they don’t want them to begin their next life with a ‘black mark,’” she said.
Westcott said that Pace’s comments — and a study showing declining numbers of discharges for gay servicemembers — have reignited debate about the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
The renewed debate includes suggestions that the Pentagon is less interested in kicking out gay servicemembers during war. Pentagon stats show that discharges of gay servicemembers dropped to 612 in 2006. The peak of such discharges was in 2001, when 1,273 were reported.
The numbers have fallen steadily each year — from 906 in 2002 to 787 in 2003, and on down. At a time when the Pentagon is struggling to meet recruiting goals, many point to the numbers as a wartime trend. Others reject that claim. And the majority of servicemembers are still opposed to openly serving gay troops.
Defenders of the policy say even, or especially, during war, the harm outdoes the good.
“I believe polarization of personnel and breakdown of unit effectiveness is too high a price to pay for well-intentioned but misguided efforts to elevate the interests of a minority of homosexual servicemembers above those of their units,” Sen. John McCain, a presidential candidate and former Navy officer, wrote in an April 16 letter explaining his support of the policy.
“Most importantly, the national security of the United States, not to mention the lives of our men and women in uniform, are put at grave risk by policies detrimental to the good order and discipline which so distinguish America’s armed services.”
Still, Pentagon stats show that only .3 percent of all discharges are for homosexual conduct.
Navy personnel officials declined to comment on personnel cases in particular. But one official, speaking on background, said his reading of the policy wouldn’t preclude a second discharge for Knight. Though, the source said, it was more likely the Navy would simply allow his short-term active-duty recall to expire.
Knight’s current orders, issued on June 6, 2006, call for him to be on active duty for 365 days. Knight said he wants to complete that service and is even looking for ways to return to active duty full time, perhaps through the officers candidate school.
Brandy Jackson has known Knight since they served in the Ceremonial Guard in 2001. Later, both were sent to the DLI, he as a Hebrew linguist and she as a Mandarin Chinese specialist. When she washed out of the program, she was sent to the USS John C. Stennis in San Diego, but soon made her way out of the Navy.
Jackson is also gay and “never looked back. I no longer wanted to live in hiding, and saw the opportunity to get out, so I did,” she said.
She calls Knight’s situation “horrible,” but finds an odd justice in his recall to active duty.
“He is such an honest person with so much integrity, I could not believe when he told me he was going back in after what they did to him,” said Jackson, a 25-year-old now studying to be a game programmer. “There are outstanding sailors out there that just happen to be gay, like Jason, that contribute a great deal to the United States military and the cause we fight for.”
from Stars & Spripes

Hillary Wants Gays In The Military

Gay troops should be able to serve in the U.S. military without hiding their sexual identity, Sen. Hillary Clinton said here Sunday.
Clinton said it's time to drop the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which began when her husband, Bill Clinton, was president. The policy says that gays may serve in the military if they keep their homosexuality secret but that they can be tossed out if they don't.
"Right now, we are discharging soldiers - at a time when we don't have enough people to do the missions we need around the world - because they're gay. Not because they've done anything, but just because they're gay," she said.
Clinton, one of the Democrats' leading presidential candidates, quoted the late Sen. Barry Goldwater, a conservative Republican who supported the rights of gay troops: "I think the question should be not whether you are straight, but whether you shoot straight."
Clinton spoke about the issue in response to a question from the audience during a campaign visit to Luther College. She also said she supported the right of gay Americans to join in civil unions, though she did not mention the more controversial idea of gay marriage.
The New York senator touched on numerous topics during a "town hall" talk before about 1,000 people in northeast Iowa.
Clinton noted Sunday was Earth Day, and she said Americans need to move quickly to stop global warming.
"Some of the damage that has been done, we didn't know about. We didn't understand," she said. "But now we do, and we have no excuses left." She said she favors capping greenhouse-gas emissions and financing alternative-energy research with money now going to subsidize oil companies.
Clinton criticized the Bush administration on numerous fronts, including education, taxation and the Iraq war. She described "a heartbreaking development," in which former allies have turned away from the United States because of President Bush's overbearing approach to diplomacy.
She also spoke about the need for universal health care, noting that she led an effort to create such a system when her husband was president.
Audience member Rita Tejada brought her daughters - Lara, 9, and Rita Marie, 11 - to see someone who might become the nation's first female president. Tejada said Clinton should stress the health care issue more. The Luther College Spanish teacher said that the subject will be among the most crucial in the election and that Clinton has the best chance of achieving universal health care. "She has the experience from before," Tejada said.
Dick Guilgot of Decorah said he probably will support Clinton. "I think she's the best, common-sense, moderate Democrat," he said.
Guilgot believes Clinton could win both the nomination and the general election, although he acknowledged some Democrats' fears that she would turn off too many independents. "I think it's going to be a challenge," he said. "There's a negative factor she can't deny."
from The Demoines Register

Army Recruiter Investigated For Bigoted E-Mails

An Army recruiter is in hot water after taking part in a war of racial and anti-gay words with a Jersey City resident who had simply posted his resume on a Web site in search of a job. Corey Andrew, an openly gay black man said the heated exchange began in late February after the recruiter responded to his resume displayed on CareerBuilder.com.
U.S. Army recruiter Sgt. Marcia Ramode wrote to Andrew from her official military e-mail address, but after Andrew said he wasn't interested in joining the Army, he did probe the recruiter on the Army's policy on gay and lesbian soldiers. The fireworks set off when he revealed he's openly gay.
Ramode told Andrew that being gay made him unqualified, and that it was "disgusting and immoral."
"In any other corporate structure in America, an e-mail like this going around in an office building would result in termination immediately," Andrew said.
But the message that struck the strongest chord with Andrew was when Ramode wrote: "GO BACK TO AFRICA AND DO YOUR GAY VOODOO LIMBO TANGO AND WANGO DANCE AND JUMP AROUND AND PRANCE AND RUN ALL OVER THE PLACE HALF NAKED THERE. ... THAT'S WHERE YOU BELONG"
To say Andrew, a musician who is a copywriter by trade, was shocked would be an understatement. "I thought she was absolutely out of her mind," Andrew said.
Andrew admits he lost his cool at times during the exchange and shot back at Ramode, taking shots at her for spelling and grammatical errors, but also told her after he'd found she was Native American to "take that to your next rain dance."
The spokesman for an advocacy group for gay members of the military told CBS 2 that action should be taken against Ramode. "She should be relieved from her duty. She was not just homophobic, she was also racist. And if that's the public voice the Army wants to put out there, then shame on them," said Steve Ralls, a director of communications for the Service Members Legal Defense Network.
Sgt. Douglas Smith, a public affairs officer for the Army said Ramode's comments are being investigated. "The command expects its recruiters to conduct themselves in a professional manner in all dealings with potential applicants and members of the public. We are ambassadors for America's Army," Smith added.
Officials say for now Ramode is still working in the military, but not in recruiting. Andrew is hoping she'll be removed from the post for good, especially for violating the Department of Defense's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in which recruiters are barred from asking applicants about their sexual orientation.
"She's telling me that 'don't ask, don't tell' meant racism. It meant social injustice. It meant sexual discrimination and bigotry," Andrew said.
from WCBS

Air Force Officer Found Guilty Of Rape

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA - An Air Force officer accused of drugging and kidnapping servicemen he met in bars was found guilty Tuesday of raping four men and attempting to rape two others.
A nine-member military jury deliberated for about seven hours in Capt. Devery L. Taylor's court-martial. Taylor gave no reaction upon hearing the verdict.
Taylor, the former chief of patient administration at Eglin Regional Hospital, faces a maximum of life in prison. Sentencing was to begin Wednesday.
"I am pleased. I am emotional, but I am very, very pleased," said Maj. Kathleen Reder, a military prosecutor.
"These men can sit up a little straighter now; I am proud of them," she said of the six victims who testified.
Martin Regan, Taylor's civilian defense attorney, declined to comment before sentencing.
Military prosecutors described Taylor, 38, as a serial rapist who met men in bars, spiked their drinks with the "date-rape" drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, and kidnapped them.
Taylor was charged with two counts of attempted sodomy, four counts of forcible sodomy, two counts of kidnapping and one count of unlawful entry.
Taylor testified that he had consensual sex with five of the men and that the sixth, who is openly gay, raped him. Regan said the men lied to protect their military careers.
Four of the men were in the military when they met Taylor, and a fifth wanted to join the Navy and feared being identified as gay, Regan said.
Regan said Taylor's only crime was being gay in the military and violating the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which bans people who are openly gay from serving in the armed forces.
from The Associated Press

Men Accusing Airman Of Rape Lied To Hide Being Gay

GLIN AIR FORCE BASE, FLORIDA — Men who say they were drugged and raped by an Air Force officer lied to avoid being revealed as gay in the military, a defense attorney told a military jury Tuesday.
Capt. Devery L. Taylor, former chief of patient administration at Eglin Regional Hospital, is gay and engaged in consensual sex with the men, his civilian attorney, Martin Regan, said during opening arguments in Taylor's court-martial.
Taylor, 38, pleaded not guilty Monday to raping four men and attempting to rape two others; prosecutor Capt. Eveylon Westbrook describes him as a serial rapist. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted of all the charges against him. The charges are two counts of attempted sodomy, four counts of forcible sodomy, three counts of kidnapping and one count of unlawful entry.
"This case is about homosexual activity that is not approved of by the military services in our country at this time. Every one of these individuals but one is either in the military service or wants to be in the service," Regan said.
Under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, members who are openly gay are subject to discharge.
Westbrook said Taylor met his victims in bars, spiked their drinks with the "date-rape drug" gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, and kidnapped them.
"Each victim will tell you they felt like they were drugged before he either assaulted or attempted to assault them," she said.
A Pensacola paramedic later testified that he and Taylor were friends and had consensual sex on a previous occasion before the two met again at a bar in July 2004. The man said that he had one beer and that Taylor then bought him a shot, which caused him to become extremely ill.
He said that he woke up in Taylor's home and that Taylor raped him repeatedly, but that he couldn't fight Taylor because he felt drugged.
"My brain knew what was going on, but my body just wouldn't cooperate," he said.
The man said he did not report the encounter to authorities until two years later, when he read a newspaper report about Taylor's arrest.
An Air Force lieutenant who worked with Taylor at the base hospital testified about his 2004 encounter with Taylor. He said he blacked out and does not know whether he was raped. The lieutenant, who is married, said he never had consensual sex with Taylor.
Col. Thomas Cumbie, the military judge, turned down a defense request Tuesday to limit testimony about GHB. Defense attorneys said that its effects were similar to that of alcohol and that none of the victims had traces of the drug in their bodies, but Cumbie said the symptoms were common among all the victims
from Fox News

Most Military 'Comfortable' With Gays

Most service members are accepting of gays and lesbians, a new poll shows.
The poll, conducted by Zogby International and released Tuesday, shows that 73 percent of military members are “comfortable” with lesbians and gays, and 23 percent “know for sure” that someone in their unit is homosexual, according to results of the poll of 545 service members.
The poll data was used by advocates to show decreasing negative attitudes about gays in the military and to call once again for a change to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law enacted under President Clinton, which stipulates that gays can serve only if they keep their sexual orientation private and do not engage in homosexual conduct.
“Today’s poll is one more nail in the coffin of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” said C. Dixon Osburn, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a Washington-based, nonprofit gay-rights group, which released the poll data.
“Those who defend the law have argued that openly gay personnel harm military readiness,” Osburn said. “This research highlights the absurdity of such a hypothesis.”
The group estimates there are about 65,000 gay or lesbian service members in the military.
While attitudes may be softening within the military, the percentage of troops who say gays should not serve in uniform still tops those who say they should be allowed to serve, according to the poll.
Only 26 percent of those polled agreed that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve in the military, with 37 percent said they should not. Thirty-two percent were neutral on that issue, while the remaining 5 percent said they were not sure.
Those more likely to agree that homosexuals should be allowed to serve were younger, with less than four years in uniform.
All the troops polled have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the SLDN.
from The Marine Corps Times