Bashed Gay Solider Discharged From Army

[davidinalameda]

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/01/010606soldier.htm

A 19-year old Army Private who was beaten by one soldier and threatened by another after they learned he is gay has been discharged.

Private Kyle Lawson was punched in the face by a fellow member of a training unit at Fort Huachuca at an off-post party in October after a friend let it slip that Lawson was gay.
The soldier accused of hitting Lawson told police that Lawson made sexually suggestive remarks. But the Sierra Vista police officer who investigated the case said "there was no provocation." (story)

Lawson told police that the soldier who broke his nose used a profane anti-gay slur. He said a second soldier threatened him with a knife outside a barracks as word spread about his sexual orientation.

Thursday night he left the military with an honorable discharge, a suggestion that military police agreed with local authorities that the attack on him had been unprovoked.

[Trevelyan]

1. It is terrible what happens to gays in the military - since W. and his

brother Neil gave most of our jobs to China with slave labor and Neil was doing much of this under Clinton, after Neil had been banned from banking for life for stealing $1 billion from the American taxpayer in the Silverado Savings and Loan scandal and only had to pay $50,000 given to him by friends and no jail time, the soldier probably joined because of the lack of jobs.

Was there any action taken against the soldiers who beat and threatened this gay soldiers?

[davidinalameda]

2. the civilian authorities arrested the guy

he hasn't gone to trial yet though

if this had happened on base, nothing would have been done but it was done off base

[AndreaCG]

6. And if he pleads or is found guilty

Will he the be drummed out with a dishonorable discharge? Cause a criminal conviction sure should do that. (But then, he's not the gay one...or is he and is too ashamed to admit it?)

[Danieljay]

3. This is so sad

What is wrong with people? A gay man wants to honorably serve his country, in a time of war, and he is beaten for his sexual preference. The fact that some people are so threatened by someone elses sexuality is beyond me.

[sasha031]

4. I often ask myself what century is this

the ignorant stupidity of a portion of the public. we are living in the dark cruel ages, while the rest of the world is trying to move forward with a gorilla breathing down its back(the US).

[kevinbgoode]

5. This is an outrage. . .and frankly, we should be contacting

our Congresspersons demanding that they have this incident investigated. We do not condone a military which allows this kind of behavior without the perpetrator being punished - in ANY circumstance.

[sui generis]

7. part B

We need to find out the names of the offending soldiers, and their hometowns, and post them on a www.gaybashers.com website.

If they did it and it's a fact of record through the military's own investigation and the soldier's subsequent discharge, then it's not libel.