Wounded Gay Soldier
Discharged From Army
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, May 31, 2005
CINCINNATI -- An Army sergeant
from Ohio who was wounded in Iraq and wanted to remain in the military as an
openly gay soldier was officially discharged Tuesday, according to an advocacy
group.
Sgt. Robert Stout, 23, was awarded the Purple Heart after a grenade sent
shrapnel into his arm, face and legs while he was using a machine gun on a
Humvee in May 2004.
Stout, of Utica in central Ohio, told The Associated Press in April that he
wanted to remain in the military and be openly gay, but that would conflict with
the Pentagon's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy.
Aaron Belkin, director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the
Military at the University of California-Santa Barbara, said Sgt. Robert Stout
told him he was due back in the United States on Tuesday, the day of his
discharge.
''I know a ton of gay men that would be more than willing to stay in the Army if
they could just be open,'' Stout said in April.
Stout said he was openly gay among most of his 26-member platoon, part of the
9th Engineer Battalion based in Germany.
Army officials at the Pentagon could not immediately confirm the discharge.
The Army declined to comment earlier on the case other than to say that soldiers
discharged under ''don't ask, don't tell'' typically receive honorable
discharges.
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