August 1, 2006 6:56 AM

No good deed goes unpunished

Arab linguist ousted after being outed

MY NEW HERO #42: Bleu Copas

Like precious few Americans, when Bleu Copas watched the World Trade Center collapse he decided to serve his country. Though gay and fully aware of the Army’s absurd “don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, Copas chose to put his country ahead of his sexual appetites. Sadly, his superiors lack a similar maturity and sense of duty.

Someone should be pinning a medal on Bleu Copas. Here’s an American who, in the wake of 9.11, decided that it was time to serve his country. As an Arabic linguist, his skills were sorely in need as American military might was increasingly projected throughout the Middle East. As a gay man, he know full well the risks he was taking by joing the military despite the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

Instead of someone pinning a medal on Copas for making the sacrifice and taking the risk to serve his country, he’s become yet another victim of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” witch hunt. In a military that sorely needs every skilled Arabic linguist it can lay it’s hands on, too many are still wrapped up in the institutional homophobia that is still part and parcel of American military culture….same as it ever was.

“I knew the policy going in,” Copas said in an interview with the Houston Voice. “ i knew it was going to be difficult.

What he didn’t know was that he was subject to discharge even if he wasn’t the one to “tell.”

Last May, shortly after Copas had been appointed to the 82nd Airborne’s All-American Chorus, the chorus’ director received an anonymous email.

“The director brought everyone into the hallway and told us about this e-mail they had just received and blatantly asked, ‘Which one of you are gay?’” Copas said.

Well, so much for “Don’t Ask….” Yep, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Ignorance and bigotry have always been one of the hallmarks of the American military; sadly that is as true now as it ever was.

Copas went to the director and his commanding officer to complain that they had “asked.”

“They said they would watch it in the future,” Copas said. “And they said, even specifically then, ‘Well, you are not gay are you?’ And I said, ‘no.’”

But Copas’ accuser would not rest, sending an endless stream of emails signed “John Smith” or “ftbraggman.” Finally, the accuser demanded action be taken against Copas or “I will inform your entire battalion of the information that I gave you.”

And so the witch hunt began. Though the policy is officially called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, when it comes to homophobia in the US Army, you really can’t teach an old dog new tricks. The sad part is that a soldier dedicated to using his singular Arabic language skills to serve his country has been drummed out of the Army like a common criminal. It’s not as if the Army is suffering from a glut of Arabic linguists to begin with, and since 9.11 one of the most crying needs in the US Army has been for people with the exact language skills Copas possesses.

THIS is how our military protects the Homeland? By purging itself of the very people it so desperately needs to help prosecute the war against terrorism? Is it just me, or is this completely bass ackwards?

Since the inception of “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” 11,000 men and women have been kicked out of the military. The Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara, estimates that discharging and replacing them has cost taxpayers nearly $369 million.

Though the U.S. is already fighting one war in the Middle East and may soon be involved in one or two more, Copas is the 55th Arabic linguists to be discharged.

And what possible sensible explanation could there be for discharging people with the very language skills so deperately needed at this time in our history? Frankly, there is none. When fear, ignorance, and bigotry trump the battle against terrorism, something is terribly, horribly wrong. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the people who SHOULD be discharged are the one leading the witch hunts in complete contravention of the official stated policy.

Copas’ discharge sets a dangerous precedent. Now, if you want someone out of the Army, all you have to do is send a barrage of anonymous emails insisting they’re gay.

“It is unfair. It is unjust,” he said. “Even with the policy we have, it should never have happened.”

Yeah, now THAT’S the America we’re fighting for, eh?

Personally, I could care less if Copas buggers goats in his spare time. If he performs his duties in a professional manner, which by all reports he did, and if he does not engage in behavior that could be contrued as inappropriate or detrimential to moral or unit cohesion, what diference should his personal sexual predilections make? Sadly, in the US Army, you’re guilty until proven innocent, and no matter what the actual policy is, commanders will still engage in witch hunts when it serves their purpose. I suppose this is why you’ll never heard the phrases “enlightened behavior” and “American military” used in the same sentence.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on August 1, 2006 6:56 AM.

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