THIS MAN'S ARMY

Lesbian Soldier Claims She Was Assaulted By Commanding Officer For Being Gay

Huffington Post’s A.J. Wakely is reporting on a female Army captain who says her commanding officer pushed and insulted her and her girlfriend when he saw them dancing at the Cavalry Squadron Ball.

“I was just shoved across the dance floor by my command sergeant major for being gay… lovely end to my active duty career,” the officer, whom Wakely calls “Lucy,” posted on Facebook.

Lucy says she was dancing with her girlfriend, who is in her unit, when their Squadron Commander told them, “You [both] need to stop dancing; the unit does not need this kind of publicity.”

The unit’s Command Sergeant Major (CSM) then approached Lucy and told her what she was doing was “wrong”:

I reminded him that DADT was repealed… He then lowered his voiced and said, “You’re a f***ing abomination, ma’am. You know what the f*** you did wrong and you’re a disgrace.”

He stepped in closer to me within an inch of my face and told me to “have a good f***ing night, ma’am.” I told him I didn’t know why he was so angry and that I didn’t do anything wrong. He then told me to “get the f*** out of my face.”

I remained calm from being absolutely stunned and confused by his behavior, and told him he was out of line; reminding him that I’m an officer he’s talking to. When his threats didn’t work and I didn’t move, he shoved me hard across the dance floor and told me to “have a good f***ing night, ma’am.”

Lucy says the Squadron Commander called to apologize and let her know “that he accepts us as being gay and it in no way changes how he feels about us as officers.” He told her the incident was ” a misunderstanding… that I took it the wrong way.” When he suggested she drop the matter, Lucy told him the event was a hate crime—particularly alarming because “an officer was assaulted by the most senior ranking enlisted [member of the unit].”

Though she’s pursuing justice, Lucy said the incident is “in no way… a good depiction of the military”:

I think it’s important that America sees how LGBT servicemen and women are serving their country with honor, and shouldn’t be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. Most military personnel agree with that statement, and the support conveyed from so many of them and their spouses after seeing me assaulted by my Command Sergeant Major reflects just that.

We applaud Lucy’s bravery and honesty, but without knowing the particulars its hard to determine exactly what happened, especially since she indicated her career in the military was over.  We hope Lucy feels comfortable sharing the whole story with the media.

Photo: Expert Infantry

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