Scroll To Top
World

Navy to Boot Sailor for Sleepover? 

Navy to Boot Sailor for Sleepover? 

Vd_army_0
Support The Advocate
LGBTQ+ stories are more important than ever. Join us in fighting for our future. Support our journalism.

Navy officials have launched discharge proceedings against a petty officer who claimed he and another sailor had fallen asleep watching The Vampire Diaries when the two were caught in bed together.

Stephen C. Jones insists nothing was happening and the two merely nodded off, but investigators say the sleepover crossed "professional lines."

Though President Obama signed legislation in December repealing "don't ask, don't tell," the new law won't officially be in effect until 60 days after Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and other officials formally certify to Congress that the military is ready to fully integrate gays and lesbians, according to The Washington Post.

Under current law, Jones can't say if he is gay, so he is being "charged with a vague transgression: willful failure to exhibit professional conduct in his bachelor enlisted quarters."

"The subterfuge is, they believe this kid is a homosexual, but they have no proof of it," said Gary Myers, Jones's civilian attorney. "So what they've done here is to trump this thing up as a crime. This is not a crime."

Jones and the other sailor, Brian McGee, were discovered when Jones's roommate, Tyler Berube, returned from an out-of-town trip. He told his commanding officer both men were only wearing boxers.

McGee has also been charged but declined to speak with the Post for its story.

Read more about the story here.

The Advocates with Sonia BaghdadyOut / Advocate Magazine - Jonathan Groff & Wayne Brady

From our Sponsors

Most Popular

Latest Stories

Advocate.com Editors