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."
"They kick you out for HIV anyway"
Sorry to disagree, but that is a false statement. You can look up the regulations if you choose to differ. By law, the military cannot kick anyone out for HIV alone as long as the person had not been declared to have AIDS by a competent medical authority.
They dont kick you out for HIV. There are restrictions to service though.
You are exactily right...I served for years with an HIV pos kid. A restriction placed on him that I know of, was that he couldnt apply to officer programs (why he would want to do that is beyond me anyhow..kidding)
Removing someone with this type of training because of their sexual preference is "weakening" our military. Keeping gays out of the military is "weakening" our military.
I'm sorry you missed the logic in that...la
One of the ways the wimpbutts who signed up to get pay and benefits but won'T actually fight get out of it is to claim being gay.
They even have liberal terror sympathisers who will claim to be their "friends"
I say okay and then if you claim this you are forever forbidden from getting married heterosexually.
"They are not going to be in the shower coming on to everyone in there. Majority of military shows are individual stalls."
Would you advocate coed shower facilities? How about coed rooms in the barracks?
If this is true, then he certainly shouldn't have been dismissed for being gay. However, it seems he has now made a rather public statement that he is gay, so I have to wonder.
People in the military are expected to be professionals and have enough discipline to prevent problems that might arise in that type of scenario.
So to answer your question, yes, co-ed living quarters should be authorized...la
"if he is an Arab language specialist, and we supposedly have a hard time coming up with such people, maybe we coulda made an exception for him?"
That's what I don't get... It sounds like if he could've been relegated to a desk job or something he might still be of great service and use to our country. I mean I understand how this could probably cause problems in the field, but surely in an office setting it can't be that much different than in the civilian sector - could it?
OVERHAULING OF STRAIGHT AMERICA
http://www.parentsrightsusa.com/Overhauling%20of%20Straight%20America.htm
Imagine having to get several dozen flamingly gay dancers and singers all in one spot, in proper costume, at the right time, performing incredibly complicated dance and song routines , without any cat fights or hissy fits amongst them and with you. Co-Ordinate the on stage activities with the gay orchestra and the backstage set crews. Execute the whole thing in front of an audience of several hundred extermely wealthy gay people who paid outrageous prices for tickets to see your show and critics who are just waiting to tear it apart in tomorrow's papers............
If he doesn't go around telling people he's gay, he won't get dismissed.
it actually reads "homosexuality"...I don't have a dog in the hunt over whether or not homosexuals should be allowed to serve in the Armed Services; my opinion is that as long as you do your job and don't interfer with the conduct or completion of the mission then I don't care what orientation you are... but the regulation is clear...if you're "caught", you've enlisted under fraudulent circumstances and you're gone...
I can't imagine the state of the military if you were to set the policies. To think it is reasonable to have coed facilities for 18 year old hormonaly active people is insane. I have experienced the soldier's lifestyle and I know it would cause major problems.
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