US Military Scrubs Deceased Gay Soldier's Wiki Entry

[marmar]

from AlterNet's PEEK:



US Military Scrubs Deceased Gay Soldier's Wiki Entry

Posted by Pam Spaulding, Pam's House Blend at 2:02 PM on April 3, 2008.

Man, how sick is this?



Man, how sick is this? The recloseting by the media and the military of Maj. Alan Rogers, who served in Iraq and was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and a second Bronze Star was bad enough, but now someone at the Pentagon decided that even Rogers Wikipedia entry needs to be de-gayed. (Washington Blade):

The user on Monday redacted details about Rogers that appeared on the online encyclopedia site. Information that was deleted included Rogers' sexual orientation; the soldier's participation in American Veterans for Equal Rights, a group that works to change military policy toward gays; and the fact that Rogers' death helped bring the U.S. military's casualty toll in Iraq to 4,000.

Rob Pilaud, a patent agent and a friend of Rogers who attended the soldier's funeral, restored the information to the Wikipedia article the next day. Pilaud was among Rogers' friends who created the Wikipedia page.


The anonymous poster also provided the following comment in the "discussion" section about the article:

"Alan's life was not about his sexual orientation but rather about the body of work he performed ministering to others and helping the defense of the country," the poster wrote. "Quit trying to press an agenda that Alan wouldn't have wanted made public just to suit your own ends."
The IP address attached to the deletion of the details and the posted comments is 141.116.168.135. The address belongs to a computer from the office of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (G-2) at the Pentagon. The office is headed by Lt. Gen. John Kimmons, who was present at Rogers' funeral and presented the flag from Rogers' coffin to his cousin, Cathy Long.

The Army's public affairs office did not return a call seeking comment.

As we learned in the Chris Johnson's earlier Blade piece on Rogers, the late service member was hardly in the closet -- he went out to clubs in DC with and even served for a time as treasurer for American Veterans for Equal Rights working to end DADT. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/81273/

[Radio_Lady]

1. That is really sad. But there are "alternate realities" that frequently don't mesh on Wikipedia.

That's the nature of it.

I read up on the history of the people's encyclopedia and eventually, even the person(s) who thought it up got out of it because of "friction."

That this is truly sad.

[readmoreoften]

2. What's sad isn't that people delete info on Wikipedia, it's that our government is deleting info.

If Joe Schmoe wants to delete a document that proves Britney Spears is a natural brunette that's one thing, but our government shouldn't be surreptitiously reinventing the lives and histories of dead soldiers.

[Radio_Lady]

4. You're absolutely right, and I missed the irony. Is this done routinely?

Forgive my stupidity.

[Ilsa]

3. The military can't have gay people giving their lives for their country.

Or rather, they can't have anyone knowing that gay people will make the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country.

SOBs in the Pentagon.

[Richard Steele]

5. Grrecommended.