Gay Army soldier comes out to support from superior

By KEVIN NAFF

FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- As the rest of his unit joins the war effort in the Middle East, Sgt. Scott Osborn sits in an office at this North Carolina military base awaiting word of his future with the U.S. Army.

After coming out to his chain of command last December, Osborn was not discharged, as the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy dictates; instead, he said his commanding officer, Major Vincent Cooper, told him that the DADT policy was a "civil rights violation" and Osborn was deployed to Fort Bragg three months later.

Ironically, this was exactly the reaction Osborn had expected when he came out to his commanding officers in a letter dated Dec. 16, 2002. In apparent contradiction of official military policy, Osborn said he knows of several gay soldiers who came out but were retained by the military.

After 17 years of service in the Army, and with the country preparing for war in Iraq, Osborn said he expected to be heading for combat duty in the Middle East instead of pushing paper in North Carolina.

After a cursory investigation into Osborn's letter, the Army failed to discharge him and instead he was sent to Fort Bragg with the 354th Civil Affairs Brigade awaiting deployment to Kuwait.

But when Army officials learned late last week that Osborn had granted media interviews on the subject of his coming out, they removed him from his unit and now he said he expects to be discharged from service.

An investigation is ongoing, which Osborn said could take from one week to more than two months. In the meantime, he waits for word on whether or not he will join his unit in Kuwait or face discharge from the Army, which Osborn describes as a large family.

"The Army's been the one consistent thing in my life," Osborn said this week. "I've always felt I was a part of a much larger family being in the military.

"I knew that the timing was not ideal," Osborn said of his coming out letter. "It was apparent that we would probably go to the Middle East. But it wasn't done with the intent of getting out of military service."

Letter alleges harassment, Osborn's letter to his commanding officers, which details the frustration and intimidation he felt while serving in the closet, alleges harassment by fellow soldiers who spotted a rainbow flag sticker on his pickup truck and began referring to him as "rainbow warrior."

Osborn said he lives an open gay life outside of the military and is out to his family. After 17 years of mounting frustration, he said, he finally wrote a letter to his superiors, which took him six months to deliver after fighting off second thoughts.

"I'm not a political person, but I guess I made a political statement by writing it," he said. "My wish to live the life and lifestyle as an openly gay man who considers himself honest, honorable, and true, [and that] means I cannot continue to remain silent about who I am," Osborn wrote. "I will not quietly stand by while others accuse, insult, offend, assault or generally harass me, or anyone else like me that I may know."

That pledge was put to the test this week, as Osborn rode a bus at Fort Bragg with other soldiers who were talking about their impending deployment. Osborn said he overheard one soldier say, "I can't wait to get to Kuwait to kick some butt. It'll be almost as much fun as bashing some fags."

Osborn didn't confront the man, but later reported the incident to a superior officer who didn't act because Osborn could not identify the soldier.

'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' suspended for war?

As the United States invades Iraq, Osborn's case -- and his allegations that other military personnel have come out with impunity -- raises questions about consistency in applying the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.

"Scott's case is unique," said Jeffrey Cleghorn, an attorney with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which is representing Osborn. "He has 17 years of good service, and his case illustrates that in time of war they take soldiers they know are gay or lesbian and send them to fight the war with full knowledge of their sexual orientation."

Pentagon officials did not respond to calls and e-mail requesting comment by press time.

Cleghorn said that Osborn's case is similar to those of other gay and lesbian service members being monitored by SLDN and that it's likely some gay soldiers will be discharged only after their return from Middle East combat.

That result appears contrary to "stop-loss orders," which suspend discharges in times of pending war, but which this time have provided for the continued discharge of gay and lesbians service members. Under the current stop-loss orders, for example, a soldier accused of drug abuse could remain on active duty, while someone who comes out as gay is expelled, Cleghorn said.

Before the 1991 Gulf War, when there was an outright ban on service by gays, the Pentagon did not exclude gay discharges from the stop-loss orders. That decision drew criticism from gay activists, who cited the orders as proof that the military was willing to let gays serve in combat, where they were said to undermine "unit cohesion" and effectiveness, and then discharge them once hostilities ceased.

But SLDN has also criticized the Pentagon's decision to exclude gay discharges from current stop-loss orders.

In Osborn's case, he still managed to come out without being discharged; it wasn't until he spoke to reporters that he was removed from his unit. Osborn said that Cleghorn advised him to speak with the media, a rare step for someone on active duty. Cleghorn said that SLDN has worked with more than 4,000 service members and only a handful have gone public.

"My primary concern was ensuring that I wasn't going to be violated in my rights by the military," said Osborn. "If I can help someone else by having it made public, that's fine, but it wasn't my initial plan."

Seeking to avoid service?

Osborn said he's suffering some depression and anxiety this week, following his removal from his unit, and said he wondered whether it had been a mistake to come out. But he later insisted that his only regret was not deploying with his old unit to Kuwait.

Under the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, a service member can be investigated and discharged if they make a statement that they are gay; engage in physical contact with someone of the same sex for the purposes of sexual gratification; or attempt to marry someone of the same sex.

SLDN, which assists service members affected by DADT, reported a record 170 requests for help from service members between Jan. 1 and March 1, a 30 percent jump over the same period in 2002. Defense Department officials have responded to criticism about the increase in discharges by suggesting that many service members are claiming to be gay simply to be discharged or to avoid deployment to a war zone.

Osborn bristles at the suggestion he is attempting to avoid service and notes that he was nearly deployed to combat in Desert Storm in 1991 and was sent to Bosnia in 1997. He said he successfully fought an investigation into his sexual orientation in 1992 after an anonymous caller told Army officials that he is gay.

Prior to his latest deployment to Fort Bragg, Osborn, 35, lived in Herndon, Va. and worked for the city of College Park, Md. as a field supervisor in the parking enforcement division. He joined the Army in 1986 and spent two years on active duty, including two tours of Germany.

From 1988-1996, he served in Maryland and Ohio National Guard units before joining the Army reserves. Osborn later spent two years in Bosnia and, since 2000, has remained in the reserves. He has received five Army achievement medals and one

commendation medal.