By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Gay lawyer Tim Jon Semmerling has filed suit, saying other lawyers' actions put his life and career in danger.
A gay lawyer representing a suspect in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack says fellow attorneys outed him and falsely accused him of pursuing a sexual relationship with the client.
Tim Jon Semmerling, a lawyer and Middle East expert based in Chicago, has filed a federal lawsuit over the matter, saying the "horrific" allegations have put his life and career in jeopardy, reports Chicago TV station WFLD.
Semmerling was appointed to assist in the defense of Walid bin Attash, a Yemeni man who is accused of helping to train the terrorists who hijacked planes used in the 9/11 attack. Bin Attash is being held in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Semmerling said he never revealed his sexual orientation to bin Attash, given that Muslim fundamentalists are likely to hold antigay views. But, he said, his fellow defense attorneys outed him to bin Attash and told the client Semmerling was interested in a sexual relationship with him.
Semmerling recently told WFLD not only that he would not pursue such a relationship with a client, but that constant camera surveillance at the prison would have made it impossible. For instance, when he at one point took a shoe off, "within a minute they had a guard in there telling me to put my shoes back on," he said. "So it couldn't even possibly happen. So that's what so absurd about it."
He said he believes professional jealousy was the motivator. Bin Attash, Semmerling said, preferred his work to that of other attorneys assigned to the case, and they resented it.
"They have hurt my career, these people, they have made sure I can never go back, by outing me, to Guantananamo Bay to work with any of the people down there," Semmerling said. He would be in danger in the Middle East as well, he added.
The lawyers he named as defendants in the suit, including Chicago attorney Cheryl Bormann, declined to comment. They and Semmerling have agreed for a judge to seal the complaint, but Semmerling said he would now like it to be made public.
Watch the interview below.
