Navy Secretary Pressured in Gay Abuse Case

[davidinalameda]

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is calling on the secretary of the Navy to discharge a soldier with a “less than honorable” status and reduced retirement pay after an internal investigation concluded the sailor had, in fact, abused a subordinate sailor using antigay and homophobic hazing.

Petty Officer Joseph Rocha, a gay man and now a client of SLDN’s, claimed that he was abused over the course of about two years, from 2004 to 2006, by his superior and fellow sailors while serving in the Navy in Bahrain.

In January of 2007 the Navy’s investigation of Rocha’s commander, Chief Petty Officer Michael Toussaint, turned up 21 findings of fact documenting numerous incidents of abuse and harassment that included employing homophobic epithets and forced simulation of gay sex acts. Following the investigation, Toussaint was censured and forced into early retirement.

In a newly released letter sent from Navy secretary Ray Mabus to SLDN executive director Aubrey Sarvis dated January 21, 2010, Mabus wrote that although a court-martial was considered in the case, the chief of Naval Operations opted for a letter of censure “after careful deliberation, and it is a decision I support.”

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/07/06/Navy_Secretary_Pressured_In_Gay_Abuse_Case/