Navy Boots Sailor on Bogus Charges

According to the lawyer for Navy petty officer Stephen C. Jones, the Navy is concocting a bogus reason to discharge the sailor.

Gary Myers, Jones's attorney, said the Navy is attempting to discharge Jones for dereliction of duty because of unprofessional conduct after he was found in a bed with another male sailor at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in South Carolina. Jones is contesting the discharge.

Jones (pictured), of Pensacola, Fla., and another sailor fell asleep on his bunk while watching The Vampire Diaries, according to Navy documents. Myers says that the Navy believes Jones is gay but "cannot invoke 'don't ask, don't tell,' because there was no admission of homosexuality or homosexual conduct." Lacking any proof, Myers says, the Navy is attempting to skirt DADT, the antigay military policy that was repealed by Congress in 2010, with repeal now in the process of being implemented in the various branches of the armed services.

Myers says he hopes the publicity from this case will discourage military commanders from attempting to use invented charges to dismiss service personnel who leaders suspect are gay but who are not subject to DADT.

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