aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South
Monday, July 31, 2006
Bye Bye Birdie
I missed this last week:
A decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was dismissed from the U.S. Army under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, though he says he never told his superiors he was gay and his accuser was never identified. [...]
On December 2, investigators formally interviewed Copas and asked if he understood the military’s policy on homosexuals, if he had any close acquaintances who were gay, and if he was involved in community theater. He answered affirmatively.
I only found it today because Justin Rood has more:
Just got off the phone with Former Sgt. Bleu Copas, the Arab linguist who got booted from the Army over allegations of homosexuality—from an anonymous informant.
He told an Associated Press reporter that an Army investigator asked him if he had ever participated in community theater. An Army public affairs chief today told me he doubted any such thing had happened.
Copas told me he sticks by his story. “It was part of their investigation. That was one of their questions,” he said. But the question didn’t come completely out of the blue.
“The informant, whoever he was, had a conversation with me on an internet chat room, and I mentioned involvement in community theater—I had rehearsal, or something,” Copas explained.
So did the investigator ask the question in order to identify you as the person with whom this anonymous informant had chatted? Or because community theater involvement was evidence of homosexual tendencies?
“I think a little of both,” said Copas, “but I would just be guessing.”
I’m guessing he’s exactly right.
Copas was discharged this January. He has moved back home, enrolled in graduate school—and joined a new community performance group, Theater Bristol, which picked him to play the male lead in its production of “Bye Bye Birdie,” he said. Performances start next weekend.
