Posted on 07/27/2006 7:39:00 AM PDT by SmithL
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) - A decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was dismissed from the U.S. Army under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, though he says he never admitted being gay and his accuser was never identified.
Bleu Copas, 30, told The Associated Press he is gay, but said he was "outed" by a stream of anonymous e-mails to his superiors in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C.
"I knew the policy going in," Copas said in an interview on the campus of East Tennessee State University, where he is pursuing a master's degree in counseling and working as a student adviser. "I knew it was going to be difficult."
An eight-month Army investigation culminated in Copas' honorable discharge on Jan. 30 _ less than four years after he enlisted, he said, out of a post-Sept. 11 sense of duty to his country.
Copas now carries the discharge papers, which mention his awards and citations, so he can document his military service for prospective employers. But the papers also give the reason for his dismissal.
He plans to appeal to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records.
The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, established in 1993, prohibits the military from inquiring about the sex lives of service members, but requires discharges of those who openly acknowledge being gay.
The policy is becoming "a very effective weapon of vengeance in the armed forces" said Steve Ralls, a spokesman for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a Washington-based watchdog organization that counseled Copas and is working to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Copas said he was never open about his sexuality in the military and suspects his accuser was someone he mistakenly befriended and apparently slighted.
More than 11,000 service members have been dismissed under the policy, including 726 last year _ an 11 percent jump from 2004 and the first increase since 2001.
That's less than a half-percent of the more than 2 million soldiers, sailors and Marines dismissed for all reasons since 1993, according to the General Accountability Office.
But the GAO also noted that nearly 800 dismissed gay or lesbian service members had critical abilities, including 300 with important language skills. Fifty-five were proficient in Arabic, including Copas, a graduate of the Defense Language Institute in California.
Discharging and replacing them has cost the Pentagon nearly $369 million, according to the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Lt. Col. James Zellmer, Copas' commanding officer in the 313th military intelligence battalion, told the AP that "the evidence clearly indicated that Sgt. Copas had engaged in homosexual acts."
While investigators were never able to determine who the accuser was, "in the end, the nature and the volume of the evidence and Sgt. Copas's own sworn statement led me to discharge him," Zellmer said.
Military investigators wrote that Copas "engaged in at least three homosexual relationships, and is dealing with at least two jealous lovers, either of whom could be the anonymous source providing this information."
Shortly after Copas was appointed to the 82nd Airborne's highly visible All-American Chorus last May, the first e-mail came to the chorus director.
"The director brought everyone into the hallway and told us about this e-mail they had just received and blatantly asked, 'Which one of you are gay?'" Copas said.
Copas later complained to the director and his platoon sergeant, saying the questions violated "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
"They said they would watch it in the future," Copas said. "And they said, even specifically then, 'Well, you are not gay are you?' And I said, 'no.'"
The accuser, who signed his e-mails "John Smith" or "ftbraggman," pressed Copas' superiors to take action against him or "I will inform your entire battalion of the information that I gave you."
On Dec. 2, investigators formally interviewed Copas and asked if he understood the military's policy on homosexuals, if he had any close acquaintances who were gay, and if he was involved in community theater. He answered affirmatively.
But Copas declined to answer when they asked, "Have you ever engaged in homosexual activity or conduct?" He refused to answer 19 of 47 questions before he asked for a lawyer and the interrogation stopped.
Copas said he accepted the honorable discharge to end the ordeal, to avoid lying about his sexuality and risking a perjury charge, and to keep friends from being targeted.
"It is unfair. It is unjust," he said. "Even with the policy we have, it should never have happened."
No, I am saying the law should be changed. As written, it is archaic and out of date. I'm not sure when, exactly, it was written, but to preclude someone from truly wanting to defend their country is counterproductive. There will, at some point, be produced a "cure" or preventative vaccine for the HIV. If that is your only sticking point, the health issue, would you then reconsider your position, religious matters aside?......
"Some of the attitudes/opinions on here are amazing."
Ya, yours is, you back nothing you say with fact.
"Should we have a DADT policy on race, too? I mean, racial problems probably have some affect on serving. Before you blindly respond to this question, think about it. Think about it well."
Probably have some effect? Have you actually served, I have? I have a feeling you blindly posted the above response.
And here we go again, trying to make sexual choices synonymous with race are we? The people on your side of this debate are so predictable and repetitive. Regardless of whether or not homosexuality is innate or not, they still CHOOSE to participate in those behaviors. Race isn't something people have a choice over.
I agree with you there. The article is FoS. If he got an Honorable, that is all that should be on there...
You sound like a complete moron with your statement. Go back to sucking an egg in Houston.
Liberal idiot.
"There will, at some point, be produced a "cure" or preventative vaccine for the HIV."
Again, there are plenty of health risks outside of HIV that soldiers would deal with in the frontlines if they participated in homosexual sex. Anal sex, even if done with a condom has health risks associated with it. And you seem to keep missing the point where hygene is a bit different out there. They can and do go weeks at a time without a shower etc.. I don't want to get graphic on you but I hope you can see where the health problems would arise.
And please don't tell me homosexual sex won't happen if there are openly gay people in the military. Like I pointed out earlier, they already have enough trouble with females and sex on naval ships etc. And I also have anecdotal evidence of it happening in certain field training exercises. The last thing you need in the military is to encourage or normalise homosexual behavior.
"Debating" with you, KOSmunists, and the other assorted DUmmies like you - and this is certainly no "debate" since there is nothing to debate when the Left is only interested in "getting Bush" and supporting America's enemies - is like debating with a rock. It grows pointless and boring very quickly. Have you hugged your favorite terrorist today Liberal?
Freepsville infested by the Left today, for sure.
BTW DUmbocRATS - you lost. Get over it you freaking cry babies.
Dude, you're hilarious. I have this mental image of a grizzled SF guy chewing out some mincing metrosexual.
Don't be naive. Gays don't join to serve and defend a country that oppresses them. They join to 'service' ala recruit, seduce, the men who no longer have easy access to women, their main competition.
When I was in the Army in the '60's the guy would have been beat on, done some Stockade time, and then booted. If I remember correctly it was called 6,6, and a kick.
I bet a Bush hating, anti war, bleeding liberal outed him.
I'd say yes, but it depends on the nature of the felony. If the person had done something stupid as an 18 year old but as a 30 year old was a truly reformed adult, and had no further run-ins with the law, then I have no problem. There are all kinds of felonies, from bad checks to capital murder. The degree of the felony should be considered as well as time and age of the individual. A board of review for enlistees could make the decisions on a case by case basis......
"How "liberating" eh? The moronic vacuous Left, more relevancy always their game."
Don't you love it...
And how about this... lets say gay marriage is legalised in this country in the future. What if 2 Gay siblings wanted to get married? Using the VERY same logic that liberals use, there is no valid reason not to allow the incestuous marriage I described to take place. Their only valid concern would be their kids having "genetic defeats", but that is irelevant considering the couple would be gay. So there you go, gay marriage logic leading directly to incest with no "slippery slope" whatsoever.
Ironically, I bet they would discriminate against the supposed "rights" of the individuals I described.
Isn't it interesting that Red Badger and some others doesn't seem to see the logic that you and I plainly see?
If it is now policy that the suspected homosexual is not supposed to tell, why did he? Can't he trace who he told?
"When I was in the Army in the '60's the guy would have been beat on, done some Stockade time, and then booted. If I remember correctly it was called 6,6, and a kick."
Yeah, and just a few years prior to that the military kept the blacks in the kitchen was regular practice too...la
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