Army Dismisses Gay
Arabic Linguist
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, July 27, 2006
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- 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 told
his superiors he was 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.''
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