Violence and Gays in the Militaryby

Michael Bronski

 It was, of course, to be expected. On July 17 an Army review concluded that no officers would be held responsible for the death of P.F.C..Barry Winchell who was murdered on July 5, 1999 by a fellow soldier at Fort Campbell, on the Tennessee-Kentucky border. Even more shocking was that the review also stated that there is no general "climate'' of homophobia at the base and, although it found troublesome anti-gay attitudes among some members of D Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, no unusual degree of homophobia was discovered.

The review is striking for several reasons. The first is that it was even performed or issued at all. Violence of all kinds – including homophobic violence – is endemic to military bases. Unless it reaches deadly proportions it is usually never news. Even when deaths are reported, the circumstances are often whitewashed. Were it not for the work of gay and lesbian activists, the murder of Barry Winchell would have been a prime example of this.

Winchell, a 6'2" 21 year old private first class, was thought well of by his superiors and had even been nominated for Soldier of the Month at the time of his death. Since his arrival at the base, although he had never come out – the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy prohibited that, even he had wanted to – he had become the target of anti-gay taunts by other soldiers. These taunts increased, and escalated into physical attacks once it became known that he was dating a transgendered performer in the Nashville gay bar scene. Things had intensified to a boiling point that during a heavy drinking July 4 weekend celebration when Winchell's roommate Justin Fisher, 27, and Calvin Glover, 19, provoked several fights with him. In an afternoon encounter Winchell punched out Glover, who proclaimed "a faggot cannot kick my fucking ass." The next night, Glover – allegedly at the urging of Fisher, went into the bedroom where Winchell was sleeping and bludgeoned him to death with a baseball bat so violently that blood was splashed fifteen feet down the hallway.

In the first official reports Winchell's death was the product of drunkenness and petty antagonisms. It was only after gay and lesbian activists – in particular, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (http://www.sldn.org/index.html) – investigated and protested that the anti-gay subtext of the crime became news. The mainstream media, in the wake of the murder of Matthew Shepard, began extended coverage, and once faced with this publicity the military proceeded forward with a more public trial. Private Calvin Glover was convicted by a military court and sentenced to life in prison and S.P.C. Justin R. Fisher, was sentenced, in a plea bargain, to 12 ½ years in prison for his role in the murder that included washing the blood off the baseball bat in an attempt to cover up his and Glover's involvement.

But Winchell's death did not happen in a vacuum and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, activists, and Winchell's family pushed for further investigation and expected the army to admit both the presence and toleration of wide-spread anti-gay sentiment at Fort Campbell, and by extension, other bases. It was an optimistic expectation. The review – led by the Army's inspector general, Lt. Gen. Michael Ackerman – found neither extensive anti-gay sentiments, but held that neither Maj. Gen. Robert T. Clark, who was commander of the 101st Airborne at the time, or any other officer was guilty of negligence, even through they were well aware of the taunts and attacks aimed at Winchell. Clark, in fact, was quickly moved fro the post after the murder and has since been assigned to an important post in the Pentagon.

Ironically, the Army's review of the Winchell killing was released almost simultaneously with the findings of a Defense Department advisory group that Defense Secretary William Cohen formed last spring to draft an "action plan'' for each of the military services to address the problem of harassment of gays. The panel recommend that service members of all ranks receive "more tailored forms of training" on the proper implementation of the Clinton administration's "don't ask, don't tell'' policy which allows homosexuals to serve as long as they don't reveal their sexual orientation. Cohen appointed the panel after the Defense Department inspector general reported in March that harassment based on perceived homosexuality is widespread in the military. According to a study of last March, 71,570 soldiers surveyed, 80 percent claimed to have heard anti-gay sentiments being vocalized by both enlisted men and officers.

Clinton's policy – which was condemned by activists as flawed from its inception – was a compromise position, enacted only after his original plan to prohibit all discrimination against homosexuals in the military was shot down by Congress and Chiefs of Staff. While "don't ask, don't tell" clearly does not deal forthrightly with the discrimination that lesbians and gay men face in the military, it has also highlighted – and some activists claim, even increased – a dangerous reality of military homophobia. Since lesbians and gay men cannot come out – "tell" – under the threat of being discharged, it becomes nearly impossible for them to report anti-gay harassment or actions. According to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network the situation is so tense on many bases that even women and men who are not gay are discouraged from reporting anti-gay threats to other for fear that they themselves will be targeted as homosexuals. Under these conditions it is not surprising that commanding officers – through negligence or their own homophobia – ignore or tacitly condone anti-gay taunts and attacks. This is clearly the message of the Army's review of Winchell's murder.

For many progressives, with anti-militarist politics, the problem of gays in the military is complicated and they are hesitant to argue for the "right" of anyone to be in the military. As one banner in a recent gay pride rally proclaimed – "The Problem isn't Gay Soldiers. The Problem is Dead Soldiers." But when viewed through the lens of anti-gay violence – and the denial of the Army that such violence hardly even exists – the position, and safety, of homosexuals in the armed forces can be viewed in a different light.