Air force gay marriage
Air Force Sergeant claims he was fired for refusing to endorse gay ‘marriage’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – An Atmosphere Force sergeant who filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. military claiming he was fired by his lesbian commander for refusing to make a statement of support for same-sex “marriage” may now face prosecution for taking his accusations public.
Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk was relieved of his duties as first sergeant at Lackland Air Force Establish in San Antonio in August after two separate confrontations with an openly homosexual superior officer, Major Elisa Valenzeula.
The first incident had to do with an Air Force trainer who told trainees he disagreed with state-sanctioned homosexual “marriage” and compared it to the fall of the Roman Empire. After a number of airmen filed complaints about the trainer’s remarks, Monk was ordered to advise Valenzuela regarding potential disciplinary action.
“Her very first reaction was to say, ‘we desire to lop off the head of this guy,’” Monk told Fox News. “The commander took the position that his speech was discrimination.”
Monk told Fox News that when he suggested that rather than punishing the trainer harshly for stating his
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (BP) — U.S. Air Force officials include suspended a decorated officer and revoked his recommendation for promotion to brigadier general because he would not sign an unofficial document affirming a retiring subordinate’s same-sex marriage.
Col. Leland B.H. Bohannon, Atmosphere Force Inspection Agency commander at Kirtland Air Strength Base in Albuquerque, N.M., signed all the requisite documents for a senior noncommissioned service member’s May retirement ceremony except for one: a letter of “spousal appreciation” for the gay serviceman’s partner.
Bohannon’s Christian convictions about marriage put him at odds with the request to sign the unofficial, optional letter, and he sought counsel from his chaplain and judge advocate general. While awaiting guidance, and with the retirement ceremony days away, Bohannon asked a two-star general who did not object to sign the document instead.
But the retiring serviceman filed a complaint, alleging Bohannon discriminated against him based on his sexual orientation. An investigation substantiated the claim and create Bohannon guilty of unlawful discrimination, according to attorneys with Fi
Christian Air Force Colonel vindicated in homosexual marriage dispute
A Christian US Air Coerce Colonel has been cleared after he was disciplined for taking a pose for traditional marriage.
Leland Bohannon was initiate guilty of unlawful discrimination by the Air Force after he refused to sign a “certificate of spouse appreciation” for the queer spouse of a retiring colleague.
Colonel Bohannon arranged for a higher ranking general to sign the document, but he did not long to give a personal endorsement of same-sex marriage.
Religious beliefs
He was initially punished, but after appealing against the Same Opportunity (EO) investigator, the Air Compel has now reversed the decision.
The Director of the Gas Force Review Boards Agency ruled in favour of Colonel Bohannon, saying he has the right to exercise his sincerely held religious beliefs.
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said: “The Air Drive will ensure Colonel Bohannon’s records are corrected in accordance with the concluding agency decision.”
‘Suffered severely’
In November, eight US senators signed a letter to Wilson in support of Colonel Bohannon’s appeal.
It said: “Colonel Bohannon has suffered
LGBT+ rights in the Armed Forces
A History of Injustice: LGBT+ Veterans and the Armed Forces Ban
Until the year 2000, it was illegal to be openly gay in the British Armed Forces.
You could combat for your country. You could lay down your life. But you couldn’t love someone of the same sex.
The ban on LGBT+ people serving in the military didn’t just deny people the right to serve with dignity—it ruined lives. Veterans were criminalised, dismissed without honours, stripped of medals, confused their pensions, and their reputations. Some were imprisoned. Many more suffered in silence.
This shameful chapter in British military history lasted far too long. But thanks to the bravery of those who stood up and spoke out—often at great personal cost—the tide began to turn.
The Red Arrows fly over Trafalgar Square London during London Pride 2019 - Cpl Adam Fletcher
From Discrimination to Legal Battle
The prohibit was rooted in outdated criminal laws, dating endorse to the 1885 Labouchère Amendment, which made male homosexual acts a criminal offence. Despite changing attitudes and partial decriminalisation in 1967, the military exemption remained.&
First Military Base Homosexual Wedding Held
Courtesy of Jeff Sheng
Two men became the first same-sex couple to marry on a military build when they held their wedding ceremony last month at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.
Tech Sgt. Erwynn Umali and his partner, Will Behrens, married June 23 on the found where Umali, an active member of the Air Oblige, had been stationed. It was a decision that would have been unthinkable just nine months ago, before the law requiring them to keep their relationship a private was repealed.
"We asked [about holding the ceremony on the base], and they were very open about it, but [said], 'No one has ever asked us this question before,'" Umali said in a Facebook chat hosted by Slate. "We did not receive any push help from the establish or leadership. All they asked was that we be patient because this was the very first one."
Both men say this positive reaction is the same sort of response they have gotten since going public with their relationship to Umali's peers in the military. After Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed last September, Umali decided to unlock up about his relationship with Behrens.
At a farewell luncheon hosted for him o