Boys-R-Us
A friend writes:

Last week, U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin blocked the Navy from discharging a senior chief petty officer for homosexuality. The sailor, unfortunately named Timothy R. McVeigh, came to the Navy's attention after the wife of a fellow sailor received an e-mail from McVeigh, who was using the screen name "Boysrch." Upon examining "Boysrch's" self-created AOL profile, the wife noted that McVeigh listed his marital status as "gay." Most of the mainstream media stopped their reporting there and, like Judge Sporkin, excoriated the Navy for anti-homosexual bias and cried foul about a violation of the military's enigmatic "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Rowan Scarborough of the Washington Times, however, uncovered the key details in the case. McVeigh, who was the senior noncommissioned officer on the nuclear attack sub USS Chicago, listed in his profile that his hobbies were "driving, boy-watching, and collecting pics of other young studs;(send some and I'll reply)." He also included as his personal quote, "My god, he's got a nice butt. And I know because I'm a bootyologist." These details are uniquely discomforting for young sailors in the confined quarters of a nuclear sub, especially given the enormous and unquestioned authority held by the senior chief petty officer over all matters concerning enlisted personnel.

The military prohibition against homosexuals is not against homosexuals themselves. It is meant to prohibit homosexual behavior and homosexual culture-both of which are damaging to the trust and cohesion among small groups of men in the fighting forces. McVeigh's defense will rely on plain and simple charges of homosexual discrimination, but his actions and intentions, as he himself listed in a public forum, are more than enough reason to throw him out of the Navy.

As all the forces struggle with recruiting (NR, February 9, 1998), how can the Navy expect to convince the parents of middle America that their sons are safe in the "silent service" if it condones the deviant and predatory (not to mention illegal) "hobby" of a senior noncommissioned officer? Chief petty officers hold the power of life and death over their sailors-especially in the all-male close quarters of a nuclear submarine. The right of those sailors to have leaders they can trust most emphatically trumps the right of a noncom to promote homosexual behavior in his private life.