Rod 2.0:Beta #gay #news #lgbt #gaynews

Discharged USAF Sgt. Newsome to Sue Rapid City, SD Over Outing

More on the disturbing case of Jene Newsome, the decorated lesbian Air Force sergeant discharged in January 2010 under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Detectives with the Rapid City (SD) Police Department outed Newsome to her superiors at Ellsworth Air Force Base, which led to her dismissal. Newsome will now sue Rapid City and the Rapid City Police Department over the outing, reports the Rapid City Journal.

"Given the city of Rapid City's unwillingness to acknowledge the wrongful and unlawful acts done by ... members of the police department, we have no choice but to file a lawsuit against the city of Rapid City in federal court," says attorney Jeffrey Fransen.

Newsome's case first came to light in March, when the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota sent a letter to Mayor Alan Hanks alleging the police department had violated Newsome's privacy and constitutional rights by sharing information about her sexual orientation with Air Force officials. In the March 19 letter, ACLU executive director Robert Doody asked the police department to pay damages and issue an apology to Newsome, along with reprimanding the officers involved in the incident and changing department policy to ban the release of information about military members' sexuality.

The incident in question occurred Nov. 20, 2009, when officers, in the course of serving an out-of-state felony arrest warrant on charges of grand theft for Cheryl Hutson, noticed an Iowa marriage certificate with Hutson and Newsome's names on it at their home. That detail was included in the police report, a document that Garinger later shared with the Office of Special Investigation at Ellsworth. Stauffacher was also involved in the arrest.

The Rapid City Police Dept. claims the officer was not being spiteful and followed department protocol. Newsome told KOTA-TV the detective told her "he knew how the military worked" and implied she would be discharged. "I played by 'don't ask, don't tell,' " Newsome says. "I just don't agree with what the Rapid City Police Department did. ... They violated a lot of internal policies on their end, and I feel like my privacy was violated."

In Marc 2010, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced more "humane" changes to DADT enforcement. But third party outings are still grounds for discharge, as the discharges by Sgt. Jene Newsome and Lt. Robin R. Chaurasiya have demonstrated.

You May Want to Read:
Editorial: Newsome's Discharge Motivated by "Spite"
Chief: Officers Followed Protocol to Out Air Force Sgt
Air Force Sgt Discharged Under "Don't Ask" Files Complaint
Rapid City PD to "Tighten" Policies After Outed Air Force Sgt

Air Force Reverses Decision, Discharges Lesbian Lt. Chaurasiya

Another day, another gay or lesbian servicemember is discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Reversing an earlier decision, the United States Air Force will separate lesbian Lt. Robin R. Chaurasiya who was allowed to remain in uniform despite declaring her sexuality. In February, an Air Force general ruled Chaurasiya should not be discharged because she declared her sexual to avoiding military service.

Chaurasiya left active duty in 2007 after serving one year. She was recalled to active duty in 2009 because of Iraq and Afghanistan. That's when  she was outed, reports the Los Angeles Times.

"Chaurasiya's case began in July after a male former officer she once dated had provided her commanding officer with evidence that she was a lesbian. The Air Force dismissed that complaint. But afterward, Chaurasiya, feeling slighted, decided to declare that she was a lesbian. In December, she and her partner were joined in a civil union in New Hampshire. A subsequent Air Force investigation found credible evidence she was a lesbian, but determined she had declared her sexual orientation in an attempt to get out of military service. The general in charge refused to remove her. The Air Force on Monday suggested the decision to discharge her resulted from new evidence. Chaurasiya said her partner was interviewed to determine if their civil union was real. Chaurasiya said she does not regret publicizing her situation. "Part of repealing the policy is demonstrating how arbitrarily it is implemented," she said. "As long as we are raising awareness about problems in the policy, it was worth it."

You may recall that earlier this year another lesbian Air Force officer, Sgt. Jene Newsome, was also forcibly outed by a third party.

in related news: Today SLDN launches "Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama", a new media campaign to pressure the White House, House and Senate to exercise leadership and include DADT repeal in the Defense Authorization Bill.

Rapid City PD to "Tighten" Policies After Officers Outed Air Force Sgt

More on the disturbing case of Jene Newsome, the decorated lesbian Air Force sergeant discharged in January under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Detectives with the Rapid City (SD) Police Department outed Newsome to her superiors at Ellsworth Air Force Base, which led to her dismissal. The Rapid City Police Department now says it will "tighten" its rules about exchanging information with the military officials, the Rapid City Journal reports.

A new department policy states that only the records custodian can turn over official documents to the military. "It’s appropriate to have a more formal policy in place to release documents to the military," Police Chief Steve Allender said. Police officers will still have the ability to contact Ellsworth law enforcement officials and other military agencies responsible for policing military personnel to share information, Allender said. The new policy will add a step to the exchange of information between department and the military, but Allender said it will not prevent anyone from doing their job. "It may take a few more minutes overall, but I think it’s worth it," he said.

ACLU South Dakota is preparing to file suit against the department and several police officers following an incident last November. Rapid City police showed up at Newsome's home in November with an arrest warrant for her wife. Detectives allegedly saw an Iowa marriage certificate in her home and informed her superiors. 

The Rapid City Police Dept. claims the officer was not being spiteful and followed department protocol. Newsome told KOTA-TV the detective told her "he knew how the military worked" and implied she would be discharged. "I played by 'don't ask, don't tell,' " Newsome says. "I just don't agree with what the Rapid City Police Department did. ... They violated a lot of internal policies on their end, and I feel like my privacy was violated."

In related news: Third party outings are still grounds for discharge, reports Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), despite the fact that two weeks ago Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced more "humane" changes to DADT enforcement. SLDN reports, "The updated language does not change the fact that statements, acts, or same-sex marriage, are still grounds for discharge under DADT." More at AMERICABlog ...

You May Want to Read:
Editorial: Newsome's Discharge Motivated by "Spite"
Chief: Officers Followed Protocol to Out Air Force Sgt
Air Force Sgt Discharged Under "Don't Ask" Files Complaint

Editorial: Sgt. Jene Newsome's Discharge Motivated by "Spite"

The Virginian Pilot, the largest newspaper in the conservative Virginia Beach-Hampton Roads area which is dominated by the U.S. Navy, publishes a spot-on editorial on Jene Newsome, the decorated Air Force sergeant discharged in January under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and outed by a third policy. The outing was motivated by spite and shows yet another reason why DADT must go, argue the editors.

In November, Rapid City, S.D., police officers came to Newsome's house searching for her partner, who was wanted on a warrant for theft charges in Fairbanks, Alaska. Newsome was at work at the nearby Ellsworth Air Force Base. When contacted, she refused to come home immediately and help police find [Cheryl Hutson]. Police say they later noticed, through the window of Newsome's home, a marriage certificate on the kitchen table. The certificate, bearing the couple's names, was about 2-1/2 feet from an officer. A few hours later, Hutson came outside and was arrested. The department routinely shares information with the base about arrests of Air Force members. But Newsome wasn't the object of the warrant. She wasn't arrested. A detective who is an Air Force veteran forwarded the police report to the base, knowing full well the consequences.

The Rapid City Police Dept. claims the officer was not being spiteful and followed department protocol.

Newsome told KOTA-TV the detective told her "he knew how the military worked" and would forward the information to the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations. Newsome was eventually discharged. ACLU South Dakota filed a complaint with the Rapid City Police Department. The organization is now preparing to file a lawsuit.

Last week Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced changes in the enforcement of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", including limiting outings and third parties and venegful ex's. We'll see how that works out.  

DefSec Gates to Outline Changes in "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Enforcement

Later this week Defense Secretary Robert Gates will offer details on the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and how DoD will try it make it a "more humane" policy, says a Pentagon spokesman.

Defense Department Press Secretary Robert Morrell told reporters that Gates will lay out elements of the department's strategy to repeal the prohibition on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers later this week.'I think he is prepared to offer a way ahead on that subject this week,' Morrell said during a regular press briefing. 'Hopefully you'll be seeing him later this week and can address the changes that he is going to be making to the department's policy to provide for a more humane enforcement and application of the law.' Gates has joined President Barack Obama and top military leaders in calling for the repeal of the policy. It's not clear what the timeline for removing the policy would look like, or whether Gates will comment on that this week.

It comes almost nine months after originally announcing DoD was "looking for flexibility" to apply the law in a "more humane" fashion. In recent weeks the Obama Administration is under renewed pressure to take action on DADT and the Pentagon has been criticized for discharging an Ellsworth Air Force Base officer, Sgt Jene Newsome, who was outed by a third party.

There's also this very disturbing news from DC Agenda, which reports a former Reagan Administration DoD official finds the Pentagon is "not interested" in repealing the ban.

"Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said he met recently with officials working on the study and said he didn’t think the questions they raised pertained to where he thought the study should be heading. 'Now, I get the impression—based upon looking outside and talking to people — that a lot of the people are not convinced that this needs to be repealed and really think it’s their mission to even examine this,' he said during a panel discussion on a new Center for American Progress report on 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.' Korb said officials on the working group were focused on how repeal could negatively affect the U.S. military as opposed to implementing an end to the law—as Defense Secretary Robert Gates directed earlier this year."

Former Undersecretary of Defense Korb adds: "I don’t get the impression that you got a group of people who said, ‘OK, the chairman [of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] spoke, the secretary spoke and the president, so now we’re going to to have a ‘can do’ attitude. I do not get that."

Chief: Officers Followed Protocol to Out Lesbian Air Force Sergeant

An update on the case of Jene Newsome, the decorated Air Force sergeant discharged in January under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. The Rapid City, South Dakota police chief says in a report released Friday that he "regrets" his department's outing of Sgt. Jene Newsome but his officers followed department protocol, the Associated Press reports.

Chief Steve Allender said the Rapid City Police Department will review policies on sharing information with other agencies and meet with members of the gay and lesbian community in the wake of Jene Newsome's honorable discharge under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The January discharge came after Rapid City officers saw an Iowa marriage certificate in her home and told officials at the nearby Ellsworth Air Force Base.  Rapid City police have said Newsome, an aircraft armament system craftsman who spent nine years in the Air Force, was not cooperative when officers showed up at her home in November with an arrest warrant for her wife, who was wanted on theft charges in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Chief Allender wrote he cannot substantiate the allegations that "the detective released the information regarding sexual orientation out of vengeance." Newsome told KOTA-TV the detective told her "he knew how the military worked" and would forward the information to the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations.

ACLU South Dakota filed a complaint with the Rapid City Police Department. The organization is now preparing to file a lawsuit, reports KITV. "In a letter e-mailed Friday to Mayor Alan Hanks, ACLU South Dakota executive director Robert Doody asks for unspecified monetary damages for Jene Newsome, among other corrective measures. The letter threatens a lawsuit."

Jene Newsome was honorably discharged in January after an "impeccable" nine-year military record as a weapons specialist. She forfeited a retirement plan worth at least a half million dollars. Writing recently at MSNBC's The Grio, we reported  Department of Defense data that show black lesbians are discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" at three times the rate that they serve.

Some Background:
Air Force Sgt Discharged Under "Don't Ask" Files Complaint

Air Force Sgt Discharged Under "Don't Ask" Files Complaint

The American Civil Liberties Union files a complaint against a South Dakota police department after two officers had a hand in getting a decorated Air Force sergeant discharged for being a lesbian and had married her spouse in neighboring Iowa.

Last November, Rapid City Police Department officers went to 28-year-old Sgt. Jene' Newsome's home to serve an out-of-state theft warrant on her wife, Cheryl Hutson. Police called Newsome at Ellsworth Air Force Base for assistance. After delaying for several hours, she finally arrived home to find the police and Hutson inside.

KOTA-TV reports:

"Police noticed an Iowa marriage certificate showing that the two women were married.  Despite the fact that the marriage had nothing to do with the arrest, Officer Jeremy Stauffacher and Detective Tom Garinger sent that information to the Ellsworth AFB Office of Special Investigations. This prompted the military to discharge Newsome for violating the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on gays in the military.  Newsome believes that the police did this as payback because she didn't help them arrest her wife.  'He (a police officer) informed me that he saw a marriage certificate on the kitchen table and he said he knew how the military worked and he'd let OSI handle it,' Newsome explained."

Soon after the officer's promise, Newsome was discharged from the military.  "I played by 'don't ask, don't tell,' " Newsome tells The Associated Press. "I just don't agree with what the Rapid City Police Department did. ... They violated a lot of internal policies on their end, and I feel like my privacy was violated."

Rapid City Police Chief Steve Allender says officers handled the situation correctly. "It's unfortunate that Newsome lost her job," Allender says. "But I disagree with the notion that our department might be expected to ignore the license, or not document the license, or withhold it from the Air Force once we did know about it."

Newsome was honorably discharged in January after an "impeccable" nine-year military record as a weapons specialist. She forfeited a retirement plan worth at least a half million dollars. Writing recently at MSNBC's The Grio, we reported Census data shows "black women with same-sex partners serve in the military at 11 times the rate of women overall." The Department of Defense reports black lesbians are discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" at three times the rate that they serve.

Thanks COREY and CEDRIC