United States Navy dog handler hazing scandal
Encyclopedia
The United States Navy dog handler hazing scandal refers to a pattern of misconduct engaged in by members of the United States Navy
at Naval Support Activity Bahrain
between 2004 and 2006. Naval investigators documented nearly 100 incidents of abuse committed against several members of a Military Working Dog (MWD) unit stationed at the United States military base at Juffair
. Documented incidents of abuse include racial intimidation, sexual harassment
, physical abuse and anti-gay harassment. One sailor, Master-At-Arms
3rd Class Joseph Rocha, suffered post-traumatic stress disorder
because of his abuse at the hands of fellow sailors, and he alleges that another sailor committed suicide because of her treatment. The Navy investigated the allegations in 2007 and documented the abuse, but took little substantive action. However, Pennsylvania
Congressman Joe Sestak, a former Vice Admiral
, demanded a new examination of the report's findings which led to the disciplining of Rocha's former superior, Chief Petty Officer Michael Toussaint (later Senior Chief Petty Officer
). The scandal came to widespread public attention as United States President Barack Obama
faced increased pressure to repeal the military's gay-exclusionary policy known as "don't ask, don't tell
" (DADT).
. Hazing, which the Navy defines as "any conduct whereby a military member or members, regardless of service or rank, without proper authority causes another military member or members, regardless of service or rank, to suffer or be exposed to any activity which is cruel, abusive, humiliating, oppressive, demeaning or harmful", is a violation of Navy policy. When Rocha refused to patronize female prostitutes, unit commander then Master-At-Arms 2nd Class Michael Toussaint and others in the unit subjected him to anti-gay taunts and slurs. In another incident he was hogtied with duct tape and rope and locked in a dog kennel filled with feces. He was force-fed dog biscuits while his hands and feet were bound. In an incident Rocha describes as "dehumanizing", he was forced to simulate oral sex on another male sailor while being video taped, supposedly as part of a training exercise. Following 28 months of abuse, Rocha left Bahrain and completed an officers' training boot camp. However, the years of mistreatment left Rocha in need of counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, and his PTSD in combination with the suicide of his former unit's commander, Petty Officer
1st Class Jennifer Valdivia, and his general disillusionment with the military following his ordeal, led to his coming out
to his new commanding officer. Rocha received an honorable discharge under DADT in 2007.
In February 2011, the Navy Administrative Board determined that Rocha's accusations were exaggerated and that Toussaint was never questioned or given chance to testify in his own defense. The three-man board reviewed two days of testimony and ruled that the case was based largely on uncorroborated hearsay. Some witnesses contradicted themselves and Rocha acknowledged getting some of the facts wrong in his Washington Post article and in his original testimony.
office opened an investigation after a sailor new to the unit reported incidents of abuse. The investigation, dated April 12, 2007, documented 93 instances of hazing and other improper conduct that took place within the unit between 2005 and 2006. In addition to Rocha's treatment, the report also documented among other incidents:
In October 2006, Toussaint was transferred out of the unit and Valdivia was placed in charge. On October 10, she was advised of the investigation and feared that she would be scapegoated for the abuse. In December she advised her chain of command of her intention to leave the Navy. On January 11, 2007, she was relieved of duty and placed on "administrative legal hold", meaning she could not transfer, go on leave or exit the Navy.
Following the investigation, which was completed in June 2007, Toussaint not only was not punished for his role in the hazing, he was promoted to Chief Master-At-Arms and assigned to work with elite Navy SEALS
at the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group
at Dam Neck in Virginia
. Valdivia, a former Sailor of the Year who was second in command during the abuse and later the unit commander, was charged with failing to control her unit to stop the abuse. She committed suicide by carbon monoxide
poisoning at her villa in Bahrain. Her body was found on January 16, 2007. Another sailor, Petty Officer 3rd Class Jake Wilburn, was taken to an Article 15 hearing and dishonorably discharged after Rocha alleged that Wilburn harassed him; Wilburn, who acknowledges participating in some harassment, is appealing his discharge. The Navy took no further judicial action regarding the report but Toussaint was subject to administrative discipline.
In September 2007, Master-at Arms 2nd Class Shaun Hogan, who had been assigned to the MWD unit, gave copies of the Navy report to Youth Radio
, a student internship program based in Oakland, California
. He had received it in response to a Freedom of Information Act
request. Youth Radio posted the redacted report on its website. The case came to the attention of Joe Sestak, then the Congressman from Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district
. Sestak wrote to Secretary of the Navy
Ray Mabus
to request an explanation of why Toussaint was promoted after the hazing incidents and suggested that Valdivia's suicide was related to the incidents. In response, Mabus ordered Chief of Naval Operations
Admiral Gary Roughead
to re-examine the original investigation. Roughead "found that the incidents were not in keeping with Navy values and standards and violated the Navy's long-standing prohibition against hazing" according to a Navy spokeswoman.
Based on these findings, Mabus considered a court-martial for Toussaint but ultimately decided against it, because of the amount of time that had passed between the incidents and the report, the previous review of the incidents and the short amount of time between Toussaint's return from an overseas deployment and the end of his enlistment. On October 21, the Navy announced that Toussaint would be reassigned to Naval Special Warfare Group 2 in Norfolk
, Virginia where he would have no command responsibilities. He received a letter of censure. His planned re-enlistment was denied and he was forced to retire in January 2010. Roughead has also ordered the Naval Criminal Investigative Service
to re-examine the case. Sestak has called for Congressional hearings into the hazing allegations.
Both Sestak and the Navy have indicated their belief that the conduct of the MWD unit is an isolated phenomenon and not indicative of any military-wide culture. Sestak characterized the MWD unit as an "aberration" and a "rogue unit". Rear Admiral David Mercer, commander of Navy Region Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia, which oversees the Bahrain base where the incidents occurred, calls the actions of the unit an "anomaly. This was a unit that was improperly led, and apparently the leadership was allowing things to occur — and in some cases encouraging things to occur — that were absolutely unacceptable. [but] I would absolutely deny that there was a culture that promoted this sort of thing.”
In January 2010, Chief of Naval Operations
Admiral Gary Roughead
issued formal letters of counseling to Vice Admiral Robert Conway
and Captain Gary Galloway for their actions related to the incidents and subsequent investigation. Conway, former head of Navy Installations Command
and the highest-ranking officer to sign off on a June 2007 investigation into the abuse, was chastised for not doing more to ensure that officers in his chain of command were sufficiently addressing the hazing allegations. Conway retired in April 2009. Galloway, former commander of the Bahrain base at the time of the incidents in question, was scolded for not acting quickly and firmly to verify the nature of the alleged behavior and ensure that prohibitions against hazing were enforced. Galloway, as of January 2010, was assigned to Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego
. The letters of counseling will not be included in either officers' permanent personnel files.
The Navy held a retirement pay hearing for Touissant at Norfolk Naval Station in February 2010. The government argued for him to be retired as a petty officer first class. After two days of testimony and 30 minutes of deliberation, the panel unanimously recommended that Touissant be retired as a senior chief petty officer. An assistant secretary of the Navy has the final decision. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
, a legal support and advocacy group for current and former LGBT military personnel, contacted Secretary Mabus with its concerns over this outcome, stating that it sends the message that as long as LGBT people are subject to separation under "don't ask, don't tell
" they can be abused by those above them in the chain of command with little regard for consequences. SLDN called upon Mabus to overrule the decision of the retirement panel and "retire Toussaint at the pay-grade at which he last served honorably and that Toussaint be given a discharge characterization that reflects his service record, which is clearly, less than honorable".
In February 2011, the Navy concluded that charges against Toussaint were exaggerated and that Rocha's allegations lobbed were either unsubstantiated or embellished. Naval officers involved in investigating the Toussaint case called the original decision to censure Toussaint a "reverse Tailhook" reaction, a reflexive and hasty attempt to prove that the Navy had learned its lesson from the 1991 Tailhook convention sexual harassment scandal. Toussaint is nevertheless still being barred re-enlistment.
Juan Garcia, assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs, decided to allow Touissant to retire at his current rank of senior chief petty officer. Said Garcia, "Toussaint’s conduct as the Leading Chief Petty Officer assigned to the Military Working Dog Division, Naval Security Forces, Bahrain, did not meet the standards expected of senior enlisted leadership in our Navy. The Secretary of the Navy concurred with the CNO’s decision that Toussaint not be permitted to re-enlist in the United States Navy. However, when looking at his career in its entirety, I have determined that his conduct did not rise to a level sufficient to warrant retirement in a paygrade less than E-8."
rights advocates and members of his own party to end the exclusionary "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prevents gay people from serving openly in the military. Obama promised to repeal DADT during his 2008 presidential campaign and reiterated that promise in a speech to LGBT lobbying organization the Human Rights Campaign
delivered on October 10, 2009. LGBT advocates have been dissatisfied with what they perceive as a lack of action within the Obama administration on a series of LGBT issues, including DADT repeal, passage of the Employment Non-discrimination Act
which would make discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation illegal, repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA) which prevents the federal government from legally recognizing same-sex marriages
and the administration's defense of DOMA in a case before the Supreme Court
. Democrat Sestak cites DADT as an example of "not adhering to the ideals of our nation" and called for the repeal of DADT before the end of 2009. In the wake of his experiences, Joseph Rocha became an activist seeking the repeal of DADT. He has indicated his desire to re-enlist in the Navy if the policy is repealed. On July 15, 2010, Rocha testified about his experiences in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States, a federal lawsuit which sought to strike down DADT.
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
at Naval Support Activity Bahrain
Naval Support Activity Bahrain
Naval Support Activity Bahrain is a United States Navy base, situated in the Kingdom of Bahrain and is home to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and United States Fifth Fleet. It is the primary base in the region for the naval and marine activities in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and...
between 2004 and 2006. Naval investigators documented nearly 100 incidents of abuse committed against several members of a Military Working Dog (MWD) unit stationed at the United States military base at Juffair
Juffair
Juffair is a suburban neighborhood of Manama, Bahrain. It was originally a separate village inhabited by Bahrainis, but it has been absorbed by the suburban expansion of Manama, and also includes large parts of land reclaimed from the sea....
. Documented incidents of abuse include racial intimidation, sexual harassment
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
, physical abuse and anti-gay harassment. One sailor, Master-At-Arms
Master-at-arms
A master-at-arms may be a naval rating responsible for discipline and law enforcement, an army officer responsible for physical training, or a member of the crew of a merchant ship responsible for security and law enforcement.-Royal Navy:The master-at-arms is a ship's senior rating, comparable in...
3rd Class Joseph Rocha, suffered post-traumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumaticstress disorder is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity,...
because of his abuse at the hands of fellow sailors, and he alleges that another sailor committed suicide because of her treatment. The Navy investigated the allegations in 2007 and documented the abuse, but took little substantive action. However, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
Congressman Joe Sestak, a former Vice Admiral
Vice admiral (United States)
In the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, and the United States Maritime Service, vice admiral is a three-star flag officer, with the pay grade of...
, demanded a new examination of the report's findings which led to the disciplining of Rocha's former superior, Chief Petty Officer Michael Toussaint (later Senior Chief Petty Officer
Senior Chief Petty Officer
U.S. Coast GuardSenior ChiefPetty Officercollar deviceU.S. Coast GuardSenior ChiefPetty OfficerinsigniaGood conductvariationSenior ChiefPetty OfficerinsigniaSenior ChiefPetty Officercollar device...
). The scandal came to widespread public attention as United States President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
faced increased pressure to repeal the military's gay-exclusionary policy known as "don't ask, don't tell
Don't ask, don't tell
"Don't ask, don't tell" was the official United States policy on homosexuals serving in the military from December 21, 1993 to September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while...
" (DADT).
Alleged abuse of Rocha
Joseph Rocha joined the United States Navy at the age of 18. He arrived in Bahrain in February 2005 and was assigned to the Military Working Dog unit. Rocha, who is gay but states he adhered to the military's "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy while assigned in Bahrain, became the target of hazingHazing
Hazing is a term used to describe various ritual and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group....
. Hazing, which the Navy defines as "any conduct whereby a military member or members, regardless of service or rank, without proper authority causes another military member or members, regardless of service or rank, to suffer or be exposed to any activity which is cruel, abusive, humiliating, oppressive, demeaning or harmful", is a violation of Navy policy. When Rocha refused to patronize female prostitutes, unit commander then Master-At-Arms 2nd Class Michael Toussaint and others in the unit subjected him to anti-gay taunts and slurs. In another incident he was hogtied with duct tape and rope and locked in a dog kennel filled with feces. He was force-fed dog biscuits while his hands and feet were bound. In an incident Rocha describes as "dehumanizing", he was forced to simulate oral sex on another male sailor while being video taped, supposedly as part of a training exercise. Following 28 months of abuse, Rocha left Bahrain and completed an officers' training boot camp. However, the years of mistreatment left Rocha in need of counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, and his PTSD in combination with the suicide of his former unit's commander, Petty Officer
Petty Officer
A petty officer is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotion OR-6. They are equal in rank to sergeant, British Army and Royal Air Force. A Petty Officer is superior in rank to Leading Rate and subordinate to Chief Petty Officer, in the case of the British Armed...
1st Class Jennifer Valdivia, and his general disillusionment with the military following his ordeal, led to his coming out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
to his new commanding officer. Rocha received an honorable discharge under DADT in 2007.
In February 2011, the Navy Administrative Board determined that Rocha's accusations were exaggerated and that Toussaint was never questioned or given chance to testify in his own defense. The three-man board reviewed two days of testimony and ruled that the case was based largely on uncorroborated hearsay. Some witnesses contradicted themselves and Rocha acknowledged getting some of the facts wrong in his Washington Post article and in his original testimony.
2006-2007 investigation
In 2006 the Judge Advocate General'sJudge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy
The Judge Advocate General's Corps also known as the "JAG Corps" or "JAG" is the legal arm of the United States Navy. Today, the corps consists of a worldwide organization of more than 730 Judge Advocates, 30 limited duty officers , 500 enlisted members and nearly 275 civilian personnel, serving...
office opened an investigation after a sailor new to the unit reported incidents of abuse. The investigation, dated April 12, 2007, documented 93 instances of hazing and other improper conduct that took place within the unit between 2005 and 2006. In addition to Rocha's treatment, the report also documented among other incidents:
- Routine gambling, fraternization and association with prostitutes
- Falsifying paperwork in explosives accountability logs
- Naked female sailors handcuffed together and required to role play an angry lesbian couple as part of another supposed training exercise
- A female sailor was sexually assaulted by another sailor and the assault was not reported up the chain of command
In October 2006, Toussaint was transferred out of the unit and Valdivia was placed in charge. On October 10, she was advised of the investigation and feared that she would be scapegoated for the abuse. In December she advised her chain of command of her intention to leave the Navy. On January 11, 2007, she was relieved of duty and placed on "administrative legal hold", meaning she could not transfer, go on leave or exit the Navy.
Following the investigation, which was completed in June 2007, Toussaint not only was not punished for his role in the hazing, he was promoted to Chief Master-At-Arms and assigned to work with elite Navy SEALS
United States Navy SEALs
The United States Navy's Sea, Air and Land Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's principal special operations force and a part of the Naval Special Warfare Command as well as the maritime component of the United States Special Operations Command.The acronym is derived from their...
at the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group
United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group
The United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group , commonly known as DEVGRU and informally by its former name SEAL Team Six , is one of the United States' four secretive counter-terrorism and Special Mission Units .The vast majority of information about DEVGRU is highly classified, and...
at Dam Neck in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. Valdivia, a former Sailor of the Year who was second in command during the abuse and later the unit commander, was charged with failing to control her unit to stop the abuse. She committed suicide by carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...
poisoning at her villa in Bahrain. Her body was found on January 16, 2007. Another sailor, Petty Officer 3rd Class Jake Wilburn, was taken to an Article 15 hearing and dishonorably discharged after Rocha alleged that Wilburn harassed him; Wilburn, who acknowledges participating in some harassment, is appealing his discharge. The Navy took no further judicial action regarding the report but Toussaint was subject to administrative discipline.
Story breaks and Navy follow-up actions
Youth Radio
Youth Media International better known as Youth Radio is a youth-based non-profit media outlet based in Oakland, California. From its beginning until May 2007, it was located in Berkeley, California. It has won various awards, including the Edward R. Murrow Award and the Peabody Award in 2001...
, a student internship program based in Oakland, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He had received it in response to a Freedom of Information Act
Freedom of Information Act (United States)
The Freedom of Information Act is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure...
request. Youth Radio posted the redacted report on its website. The case came to the attention of Joe Sestak, then the Congressman from Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district
Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district
Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district incorporates parts of the Philadelphia suburbs, including most of Delaware County. It is currently represented by Republican Pat Meehan in the 112th United States Congress....
. Sestak wrote to Secretary of the Navy
United States Secretary of the Navy
The Secretary of the Navy of the United States of America is the head of the Department of the Navy, a component organization of the Department of Defense...
Ray Mabus
Ray Mabus
Raymond Edwin "Ray" Mabus, Jr. is the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy. Mabus served as the 60th Governor of the U.S...
to request an explanation of why Toussaint was promoted after the hazing incidents and suggested that Valdivia's suicide was related to the incidents. In response, Mabus ordered Chief of Naval Operations
Chief of Naval Operations
The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...
Admiral Gary Roughead
Gary Roughead
Gary Roughead is a retired United States Navy four-star admiral who last served as the 29th Chief of Naval Operations from September 29, 2007 to September 22, 2011. He previously served as Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, from May 17, 2007, to September 29, 2007. Prior to that he served as...
to re-examine the original investigation. Roughead "found that the incidents were not in keeping with Navy values and standards and violated the Navy's long-standing prohibition against hazing" according to a Navy spokeswoman.
Based on these findings, Mabus considered a court-martial for Toussaint but ultimately decided against it, because of the amount of time that had passed between the incidents and the report, the previous review of the incidents and the short amount of time between Toussaint's return from an overseas deployment and the end of his enlistment. On October 21, the Navy announced that Toussaint would be reassigned to Naval Special Warfare Group 2 in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, Virginia where he would have no command responsibilities. He received a letter of censure. His planned re-enlistment was denied and he was forced to retire in January 2010. Roughead has also ordered the Naval Criminal Investigative Service
Naval Criminal Investigative Service
The United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service is the primary security, counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism, and law enforcement agency of the United States Department of the Navy...
to re-examine the case. Sestak has called for Congressional hearings into the hazing allegations.
Both Sestak and the Navy have indicated their belief that the conduct of the MWD unit is an isolated phenomenon and not indicative of any military-wide culture. Sestak characterized the MWD unit as an "aberration" and a "rogue unit". Rear Admiral David Mercer, commander of Navy Region Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia, which oversees the Bahrain base where the incidents occurred, calls the actions of the unit an "anomaly. This was a unit that was improperly led, and apparently the leadership was allowing things to occur — and in some cases encouraging things to occur — that were absolutely unacceptable. [but] I would absolutely deny that there was a culture that promoted this sort of thing.”
In January 2010, Chief of Naval Operations
Chief of Naval Operations
The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...
Admiral Gary Roughead
Gary Roughead
Gary Roughead is a retired United States Navy four-star admiral who last served as the 29th Chief of Naval Operations from September 29, 2007 to September 22, 2011. He previously served as Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, from May 17, 2007, to September 29, 2007. Prior to that he served as...
issued formal letters of counseling to Vice Admiral Robert Conway
Robert Conway (admiral)
Vice Admiral Robert T. Conway, Jr., was an officer in the United States Navy, who retired from active service on 1 April 2009. His last assignment was Commander, Navy Installations Command, Washington D.C., where he led a...
and Captain Gary Galloway for their actions related to the incidents and subsequent investigation. Conway, former head of Navy Installations Command
Commander, Navy Installations Command (United States)
Commander, Navy Installations Command is the authority responsible for shore installation management under the United States Navy; it is responsible to the Chief of Naval Operations...
and the highest-ranking officer to sign off on a June 2007 investigation into the abuse, was chastised for not doing more to ensure that officers in his chain of command were sufficiently addressing the hazing allegations. Conway retired in April 2009. Galloway, former commander of the Bahrain base at the time of the incidents in question, was scolded for not acting quickly and firmly to verify the nature of the alleged behavior and ensure that prohibitions against hazing were enforced. Galloway, as of January 2010, was assigned to Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific is the U.S. Navy's research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support center for command, control and communication systems and ocean surveillance. SSC Pacific provides information resources to support the joint warfighter in...
. The letters of counseling will not be included in either officers' permanent personnel files.
The Navy held a retirement pay hearing for Touissant at Norfolk Naval Station in February 2010. The government argued for him to be retired as a petty officer first class. After two days of testimony and 30 minutes of deliberation, the panel unanimously recommended that Touissant be retired as a senior chief petty officer. An assistant secretary of the Navy has the final decision. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is a non-profit legal services, watchdog, and policy organization founded in the United States in 1993. It is dedicated to ending discrimination and harassment of gay and lesbian U.S. military personnel negatively affected by the "Don't ask, don't tell"...
, a legal support and advocacy group for current and former LGBT military personnel, contacted Secretary Mabus with its concerns over this outcome, stating that it sends the message that as long as LGBT people are subject to separation under "don't ask, don't tell
Don't ask, don't tell
"Don't ask, don't tell" was the official United States policy on homosexuals serving in the military from December 21, 1993 to September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while...
" they can be abused by those above them in the chain of command with little regard for consequences. SLDN called upon Mabus to overrule the decision of the retirement panel and "retire Toussaint at the pay-grade at which he last served honorably and that Toussaint be given a discharge characterization that reflects his service record, which is clearly, less than honorable".
In February 2011, the Navy concluded that charges against Toussaint were exaggerated and that Rocha's allegations lobbed were either unsubstantiated or embellished. Naval officers involved in investigating the Toussaint case called the original decision to censure Toussaint a "reverse Tailhook" reaction, a reflexive and hasty attempt to prove that the Navy had learned its lesson from the 1991 Tailhook convention sexual harassment scandal. Toussaint is nevertheless still being barred re-enlistment.
Juan Garcia, assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs, decided to allow Touissant to retire at his current rank of senior chief petty officer. Said Garcia, "Toussaint’s conduct as the Leading Chief Petty Officer assigned to the Military Working Dog Division, Naval Security Forces, Bahrain, did not meet the standards expected of senior enlisted leadership in our Navy. The Secretary of the Navy concurred with the CNO’s decision that Toussaint not be permitted to re-enlist in the United States Navy. However, when looking at his career in its entirety, I have determined that his conduct did not rise to a level sufficient to warrant retirement in a paygrade less than E-8."
Don't ask, don't tell
The hazing scandal received widespread media attention at a time when President Barack Obama faced increasing pressure from LGBTLGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
rights advocates and members of his own party to end the exclusionary "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prevents gay people from serving openly in the military. Obama promised to repeal DADT during his 2008 presidential campaign and reiterated that promise in a speech to LGBT lobbying organization the Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
delivered on October 10, 2009. LGBT advocates have been dissatisfied with what they perceive as a lack of action within the Obama administration on a series of LGBT issues, including DADT repeal, passage of the Employment Non-discrimination Act
Employment Non-Discrimination Act
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is a proposed bill in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by civilian, nonreligious employers with at least 15 employees.ENDA has been introduced in every...
which would make discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation illegal, repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act
Defense of Marriage Act
The Defense of Marriage Act is a United States federal law whereby the federal government defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman. Under the law, no U.S. state may be required to recognize as a marriage a same-sex relationship considered a marriage in another state...
(DOMA) which prevents the federal government from legally recognizing same-sex marriages
Same-sex marriage in the United States
The federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage in the United States, but such marriages are recognized by some individual states. The lack of federal recognition was codified in 1996 by the Defense of Marriage Act, before Massachusetts became the first state to grant marriage licenses...
and the administration's defense of DOMA in a case before the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
. Democrat Sestak cites DADT as an example of "not adhering to the ideals of our nation" and called for the repeal of DADT before the end of 2009. In the wake of his experiences, Joseph Rocha became an activist seeking the repeal of DADT. He has indicated his desire to re-enlist in the Navy if the policy is repealed. On July 15, 2010, Rocha testified about his experiences in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States, a federal lawsuit which sought to strike down DADT.
See also
- Barry WinchellBarry WinchellBarry Winchell was an infantry soldier in the United States Army, whose murder by a fellow soldier, Calvin Glover, became a point of reference in the ongoing debate about the law known as "Don't ask, don't tell", which required the US military to discharge service members based on sexual...
- American soldier whose 1999 murder sparked national discussion on don't ask, don't tell