As gay discharges continue, gay soldier is murdered

[kpete]

Source: Raw Story


As gay discharges continue, gay soldier is murdered

By John Byrne

Published: July 2, 2009
Updated 6 minutes ago

A 29-year-old soldier was found dead at a Southern California military base Tuesday in a suspected homicide that activists say may have been related to his sexuality.

A unnamed individual is being held as a “person of interest” in the case.

Seaman August Provost of Houston, Texas, reportedly complained to his family that was he being harrassed; his sister told a local newspaper that they’d advised him to tell his supervisor. If Provost revealed his sexuality, however, he could have been discharged from the armed services.

The news comes on the heels of the military’s recommended discharge of gay Arabic translator Daniel Choi, and discontent within the gay community about the Obama Administration’s actions on gay rights. President Obama says he will not stop the military discharges, which have resulted in the expulsion of more than 250 servicemembers since he was inaugurated in January.

Read more: http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/02/as-gay-discharge... /

[Solly Mack]

1. Bigotry, codified by law, will nurture hate. Hate, thus emboldened,

will all too often be acted upon.

When you promote an atmosphere where it's OK to discriminate, it's OK to deny rights, it's OK to view those different from you as less than human, don't pretend you didn't know this could happen. Don't pretend to be shocked. Don't pretend you're just an innocent bystander.

[lies and propaganda]

3. could not have said it better n/t

[Solly Mack]

14. Thank you

[checks-n-balances]

24. +1

Thanks for providing needed perspective.

[sarge43]

5. And run that unit cohesion by us one more time.

Nothing like codified bigotry to ensure it.

[Solly Mack]

7. It was said that integration would hurt unit cohesion and morale

that was a lie too

[sarge43]

11. Yup and we wimmins would destroy the military, too.

Personal opinion is this "fear the other" crap is diversion on the part of those what be in charge. "It's all their fault, not ours." Oldest power play on the books.

[Solly Mack]

13. Yep

[Odin2005]

9. I am reminded of a quote by the philosopher Karl Popper:

"If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them."

[Solly Mack]

12. Thank you for that

[Odin2005]

15. No problem!

[Mari333]

16. +10 !! EXACTLY

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. Perfectly stated.

Hope you are planning to send it to WH.org

[EFerrari]

25. Exactly. n/t

[marasinghe]

40. amen. RIP Sailor.

too bad they don't have a church of The Gay Lord's Army; or, perhaps, we'd have the "... strong right to refuse ..." presidential directive, already - to exempt it's members from DADT and maybe the same fate as this poor kid.

[izquierdista]

2. Obama is right on it

I'm sure he will say something eloquent -- in a few months.

[MNDemNY]

17. We will let him be "perfectly clear" , too.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. sailor, not soldier

.

[fascisthunter]

6. killing fellow military personnel is treason

the fact it was done out of hatred/fear=homophobia is even more pathetic and dishonorable

[24601]

32. No, it's murder, not treason. The Constitution precisely defines

Treason - the only crime defined in the Constitution.

Article III Section 3 delineates treason as follows:

"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court."

Murder on the other hand is a state crime unless a military member is charged under the UCMJ - then it is federal.

[fascisthunter]

38. I would have thought shooting a fellow soldier is an act of war against the country

[24601]

39. In all the cases of soldiers (or airmen/sailors/marines) killing

other military folks, including fragging officers in combat, no one has even been charged with Treason. Neither have the successful or attempted assassinations of the Commander in Chief (President) been prosecuted as Treason.

Not that I recommend it because I don't but if you raise and army, invade the USA, or try to take control of the White House, Capitol and Supreme Court and topple the government - then that has a good chance crossing the line for Treason. Or if, during a declared war, you defect and join the Waffen SS, or you make propaganda broadcasts for the enemy (following the example of Axis Sally or Tokyo Rose) then that will likely be charged as Treason.

Here's the URL for the list of US Treason convictions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_convicted_o...

[fascisthunter]

41. thanks for the explanation

[Bluenorthwest]

8. This is what comes from fancy pants religious excuses

for bigoted law.

[TokenQueer]

10. Just another dead gay...

...it must be a day in ends with a "Y".

[xchrom]

18. recommend

[keepCAblue]

19. Seaman August Provost:

[IntravenousDemilo]

20. Your link and the result.

"Sorry, no posts matched your criteria."

Could they have taken down this story already?

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. Obama probably personally killed the guy

Because he is a homophobe and hates all LGBT people!

[EFerrari]

26. Obama needs to end the permissive environment that makes these deaths possible.

[alcibiades_mystery]

27. Agreed

As soon as Congress gets him a bill.

[No Elephants]

30. Cop out. 10 USC 12305 ia all he needs to suspend DADT discharges until Congress acts.

Alternatively, nothing prevents him from using his Constitutional power as CIC.

[alcibiades_mystery]

31. We've already had this discussion

The code is a ridiculous overreach in general, and even more so when there is no actual military emergency. I know a lot of you want the "CiC" to use the powers of the imperial presidency to deal with a civil rights issue by faking some military exigency, but there is no military exigency, so it will just be more of the same: the executive doing whatever the fuck he wants - even overturning explicit public law - all in the name of so-called preparedness. That's too high a price. I guess we get to pick and choose the issues we want the executive to act like a dictator on, but I don't like it one bit. This isn't a military preparedness issue - not really. It's a civil rights issue. As such, pulling out clauses designed (even in the worst cases) to be deployed only for military exigency is fucking fascist, even if it's a cause we agree with. It's fascism.

Congress passed a law. They need to pass another.

[Zhade]

34. Yeah, and you lost THAT one, too.

NT!

[alcibiades_mystery]

35. So you say

I've yet to see anyone explain why the President should overrule existing public law on a civil rights issue by claiming military exigency. It's beyond stupid. It's fascist.

[Eryemil]

28. It's rally pathetic that you have to bring this shite into a thread like this n|t

[alcibiades_mystery]

29. Yes

Because it's otherwise restricted to non-political mourning of the deceased, right?

Please.

[Zhade]

33. He is a bigot.

NT!

[smalll]

23. Headline writers have GOT to come up with something other than "gay discharges" for this. /nt

[David Zephyr]

36. If this had happened under Bush's term, everyone would have been livid, but...

now that we have change that we can believe in, well...

[David Zephyr]

37. Maybe Obama can suggest that his friend Rick Warren give the eulogy.

After all, reaching out is reaching out.

How tragic this is.

This is on Obama's watch.