SLDN Calls for Army Action Over Homophobic Assaults

FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, December 19, 2005  –  The mother of a gay American teenage soldier has told a newspaper that she is afraid for his life, following a homophobic assault, allegedly by another soldier, in Arizona.

“I have been crying myself to sleep,” Sheila Lawson told the Arizona Daily Star which revealed the case of 19 years-old Private Kyle Lawson yesterday.

Pvt. Lawson, the newspaper reported, “has been sleeping on a cot in his drill sergeant's office [for weeks] to protect him from further attacks because he is gay”.

According to the Star, Private Lawson’s nose was broken and he was later threatened with a knife after a friend revealed during a Battalion party that Lawson is gay.

While the soldier who Lawson says attacked him at an off-base party at the end of October, was originally charged with aggravated assault by civilian police, US Army officials at Fort Huachuca have decided not to prosecute the case “for reason fort officials say they are not at liberty to explain,” according to the press report.  Lawson says the solider used an anti-gay slur during the attack.

Fearful for his safety, Private Lawson plans to quit the US Army.  “He told me, ‘Mom, I love the Army so much. I don’t want to get out’,” Mrs Lawson told the Star.

Pvt. Lawson was training to be an Army interrogator, a high-demand job in the age of terrorism, at the 309th Military Intelligence Battalion, a training unit at Fort Huachuca 75 miles southeast of Tucson.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) today called on Army officials to hold the responsible party accountable for the assault and called on the Pentagon to implement an Anti-Harassment Action Plan originally adopted in 2000.  The plan, SLDN has reported each year since, has never been implemented.

“Pentagon leaders have consistently refused to take harassment seriously, and our men and women in uniform continue to pay the price,” said Sharra E. Greer, SLDN’s director of law and policy.

“The Pentagon has found, in its own survey, rampant anti-gay harassment in the armed forces.

“Service members report harassment, violence and threats to SLDN on a regular basis. At least two service members have been murdered because of unchecked anti-gay harassment. 

“Yet military leaders have utterly failed to send a strong, clear message that anti-gay harassment is unacceptable or that those who harass will be held accountable for their actions.

“The result is yet another anti-gay assault,” Greer said.

According to the Star, Private Lawson’s nose was broken and he was later threatened with a knife after a friend revealed during a Battalion party that Lawson is gay.  While the soldier who Lawson says attacked him was originally charged with aggravated assault by civilian police, Fort Huachuca officials have decided not to prosecute the case “for reason fort officials say they are not at liberty to explain,” according to the press report.  Lawson says the solider used an anti-gay slur during the attack.

“Congress should demand answers,” said Greer.  “The complete lack of accountability when it comes to anti-gay harassment in our armed forces is outrageous and inexcusable.  How many more murders and assaults will be required to wake up Pentagon leaders?”

In August 2003, twenty-two Members of Congress asked the Department of Defense to implement its Anti-Harassment Action Plan, which includes steps to curb anti-gay harassment.  Those Congressional representatives concluded “that the Services are not in full compliance” with the plan and asked DoD to report on its progress by February 2004.

Dr. David Chu, the Pentagon undersecretary charged with implementing ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell,’ replied that no further action was required and the Pentagon’s actions to address and deal with harassment were sufficient. 

Many military personnel report to SLDN that they are unaware the plan even exists.

According to the Star, the attacker “was punished by losing some privileges, such as having his weekend pass revoked”.

Had the Army not taken control of the case after local police had charged the alleged attacker with a Class 3 felony, an average three and a half years imprisonment, with longer if a civilian judge finds the crime was based on hate, can be expected in Arizona.

■  For more information on the Anti-Harassment Action Plan, visit the SLDN website

Arizona Daily Star - USA:  Gay Soldier Leaving Army After Assault at Fort Huachuca.  By Carol Ann Alaimo.  Fear is keeping Pvt. Kyle Lawson awake at night — not of the enemy, but of his fellow soldiers.  For weeks, the 19-year-old Tucson native has been sleeping on a cot in his drill sergeant's office to protect him from further attacks because he is gay. (Sunday December 18, 2005)