Lesbian Sergeant Outed by Police and Discharged Under DADT

More than 13,500 people have been discharged under the military's ridiculous "don't ask, don't tell, don't harass, don't pursue" policy since 1994. How exciting that despite playing by all the complicated rules of tiptoeing through the landmines of living LGBTQ in the military, Jene Newsome gets to count herself among that number after she was outed to superiors. Not by her co-workers, but by local police.

According to the complaint that the former Air Force Staff Sergeant and the ACLU of South Dakota filed together, Newsome was outed by the police in retaliation for refusing to leave work at Ellsworth AFB to assist them in carrying out an arrest warrant for her partner wife. (Note: In comments on this post by Michael A. Jones it was pointed out that wife should be used here, not partner, since that is who she really is.) Police claim that they spotted her marriage license on the table through an open window and that they had a legal obligation to report it to the Air Force, since it was relevant to their investigation. Yes, I can see that. Arrest warrant for theft for one specifically named woman ... I must report this marginalized woman who is not the aforementioned woman on the warrant for being a great big lesbian so that she loses her job! My marriage license is sitting on a bookshelf in my home. I suppose that if the police came here they would be obligated to call the local base and report us as heterosexual?

Newsome and the ACLU disagree with the South Dakota police. They believe that Jene's privacy was violated, and that surely, the police were aware that reporting her sexual orientation to the Air Force would result in her being discharged under DADT, since, ya know, it has been around for a couple of years. What this happened to be was a case of a woman getting all uppity, right, and we can't have that, since women need to know their role. So we have to punish her where it will hurt the most -- by taking away her livelihood. Score extra points, too, for being the police and successfully bullying a woman of color and getting away with it without even being placed on leave while the investigation took place!

Top DoD officials have called for a review of the policy, and even leniency on the implementation of current policy to stop discharges prompted by third party outings, but that didn't come soon enough to save Jene Newsome. While the DoD will have to take time to figure out a few things they should have seen coming, like how pay and benefits will figure when the policy is repealed (yes, when -- wake up, U.S.A.!), there need to be safeguards in place to protect women like Newsome from being retaliated against by those who think they can flex their badges against the vulnerable on the margins. Safeguards to protect the other LGBTQ folk living quietly in uniform, thanking their stars every day that they haven't pissed off the wrong person with too much power.

Photo credit: U.S. Army