DADT Used Against ROTC College Student

Fellow contributor to Bilerico-DC, Steve Ralls, has a post that looks at another insidious way in which Don't Ask, Don't Tell ("DADT") is used for witch hunts and/or by snitches to expel LGBT Americans from the military and college ROTC programs. The case in point involves a Navy ROTC cadet at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., who based on a kiss with his boyfriend at a party has been expelled from the ROTC program at GWU and lost the scholarship funds that typically attach. The scoop on the story was broken by The Hoya, the student newspaper at nearby Georgetown University. Here are highlights from Steve's post:

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The dismissal of Todd Belok, a NROTC (Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps) cadet was, according to at least one GW official, the first "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" incident the school has confronted in its entire history. And the entire ordeal began with a simple frat party kiss.

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Belok, in a story in a neighboring school's newspaper, The Hoya, recounted that his boyfriend, as loving partners sometimes do, came to visit him on campus in the fall. The couple attended a frat party where other NROTC members were present and the two "kissed at the party," as Belok recalls.

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"What Belok did not know was that two other midshipmen who had attended the party, GWU freshman Dave Perry and Squad Leader Nick Trimis, a GWU senior, reported his actions to Lt. Kathleen Meeuf, an assistant professor of naval science," The Hoya reported. "Still, Belok said, he expected that the situation would be swept under the rug without much controversy." But Belok underestimated the power of a kiss to shake the world's most powerful military to its core. "In October," the paper reports, "the Performance Review Board recommended Belok for disenrollment and dismissed him from the battalion in December."

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The whole, shameful story also underscores how imperative it is, for the movement for LGBT equality as a whole, that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" be toppled once and for all. Because, when our simple and loving displays of affection are still considered a federal offense, we have a long, long way to go before our country embraces "liberty and justice for all."

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Religious based anti-gay bigotry enshrined in the law in the form of DADT harms real people literally every day either in the form of ruined careers or the constant stress of living with the fear of betrayal or discovery. It clearly does not aid unit cohesiveness. If anything it undermines cohesion. President Obama and the Democrat controlled Congress need to get some balls and throw DADT on the scrape pile of history where it belongs. The Hoya story goes on to discuss just how minimal the evidence need be for one to find himself/herself on the path to expulsion under DADT:

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Lieutenant Colonel Dan Koprowski, professor of military science and the head of Georgetown’s ROTC program, said that Georgetown had not dealt with any similar situations during his tenure. . . . Under this policy, gays and lesbians are allowed to serve in the military, as long as they do not actively engage in homosexual conduct.

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“Sexual orientation will not be a bar to service unless manifested by homosexual conduct,” the policy states. “The military will discharge members who engage in homosexual conduct, which is defined as a homosexual act, a statement that the member is homosexual or bisexual, or a marriage or attempted marriage to someone of the same gender.”

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“Bodily contact between service members of the same sex that a reasonable person would understand to demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts (e.g., hand-holding or kissing in most circumstances) will be sufficient to initiate separation [from the military],” the policy states.

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In the Hampton Roads area with its high concentration of military personnel, I have even heard of members of the military going online in gay chat rooms and trying to identify members of the military with profiles that describe themselves as gay. While the policy says "Don't Ask," witch hunts are in fact common place regardless of whatever official spin may be disseminated by the military commands. If there is any consolation in Todd Belok's saga, it is that the majority of students appear to support him while the snitches have been vilified as reported by NBC News:

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Todd Belok, the George Washington University freshman who was kicked out of the university’s ROTC program after two of his fellow program members reported him as gay, has receiving nothing but love from fellow students, community members, and ex-militaries since his story was published in the Hatchet earlier this month. The two fellow ROTC students who outed Belok to their superiors after they witnessed him kissing a male “special friend” in the basement of a fraternity last year haven’t fared so well:
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In the days after Belok’s story was published, freshman Dave Perry, one of the two students who reported Belok to his superiors, received several hateful e-mails and Facebook messages, according to a member of the unit who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.