Gay Army sergeant
outed by anonymous e-mails is discharged

After a barrage of anonymous e-mails to his superiors outing a decorated Army sergeant and Arabic-language specialist, Bleu Copas was dismissed under "don't ask, don't tell" in January. Copas, who was based at Fort Bragg, N.C., never told his bosses about his sexual orientation, but because of the e-mails he was given an honorable discharge, the Associated Press reports. "I knew the policy going in," Copas, 30, told the AP on the campus of East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, where he is now pursuing a master's degree in counseling and working as a student adviser. "I knew it was going to be difficult." Although the person behind the e-mails was never identified, an eight-month-long Army investigation nevertheless concluded that Copas "engaged in at least three homosexual relationships and is dealing with at least two jealous lovers, either of whom could be the anonymous source providing this information." "In the end, the nature and the volume of the evidence and Sergeant Copas's own sworn statement led me to discharge him," Lt. Col. James Zellmer, Copas's commanding officer, told the AP. "The evidence clearly indicated that Sergeant Copas had engaged in homosexual acts." However, during a formal interview as part of the investigation, Copas refused to answer when asked if he had ever engaged in "homosexual activity or conduct." He soon asked for a lawyer, and the interrogation was stopped. "It is unfair. It is unjust," Copas, who enlisted in the Army after 9/11 out of a sense of duty, told the AP. "Even with the policy we have, it should never have happened." He plans to appeal to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records to delete the reason for his discharge from his official papers. (The Advocate)