Navy Celebrates 2016 LGBT Pride Month

By Chief of Naval Personnel Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy joins the nation in recognizing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride month during the month of June.

Established by Presidential Proclamation in 2000, LGBT Pride Month is held annually and recognizes the importance of diversity within our society as well as the many achievements of LGBT individuals. This year's theme is celebration, and calls Americans to eliminate prejudice and celebrate our diversity.

"Americans have always worked to fulfill that exceptional promise made at our founding," said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. "We have continually broken down artificial barriers to equal opportunity ... Our military forces have followed that same history and made themselves stronger and better and more effective because of it."

This June, the Navy recognizes LGBT service members and civilians for their dedicated service to our country.

"Diversity is a source of strength for the Navy, and is [a] key component to maintaining our highest state of readiness," said a Navy spokesperson. "Diversity encompasses more than race and gender -- we seek to include diversity of thought, background, language, culture and skills as well. Our force comes from a diverse populous, and we are simply better at what we do when we are more diverse. We want individuals to serve who are right for the job regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, and creed. Our goal is to ensure that the mission is carried out by the best-qualified and the most capable service members."

For service members, repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell in 2011 allowed gay, lesbian and bisexuals to serve openly in the United States Armed Forces.

Currently, the Department of Defense is reviewing its transgender policy for the armed forces.

For more information about LGBT Pride Month, visit: http://www.deomi.org/contribute/SpecialObservance/Pride.cfm/.

For more information, visit http://www.navy.mil/, http://www.facebook.com/usnavy/, or http://www.twitter.com/usnavy/.

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A Gay Sailor brutalized for Two Years

This is horrible news.

Joseph Rocha was subjected to mental and physical abuse by his unit mates.

Why? Because they suspected he was gay...

Petty Officer Third Class Joseph Rocha was assigned to the Bahrain Military Working Dogs Division, according to Youth Radio, which uncovered military documents chronicling the abuse.

Rocha's unit mates reportedly abused him by tying him to a chair and pushing him, still bound, into a dog kennel full of feces. The sailor also said he was forced to simulate oral sex with a man more than 30 times, on video tape, as part of a training exercise to teach sailors how to respond to a hypothetical complaint about homosexual sex. They also reportedly hit him as hard as they could repeatedly while forcing him to bend over a desk. The abuse began six weeks into his deployment in 2004 when he was ostracized for not being interested in prostitutes.

While one of the sailors involved was later promoted as chief, even though documentation of the abuse was on record with the Navy, Rocha was eventually discharged for revealing voluntarily that he is gay.

This is a mess!

I hope somebody gets on this and hold these folks accountable.


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Investigators believe August Provost's death was a "Random Act"

Tragic death of August Provost has caused his family to ask questions. His complaints were not taken seriously and now he's dead.

His family want answers...and we do too. He was shot 3 times, tied up and burned. That was done out of anger and hate.

Rose Roy of Beaumont said her nephew, Navy Seaman August Provost III, had complained a year before about being harassed for being gay.

Roy said she advised Provost to report and document the incidents, but she said the military did little to help.

“He went to the Navy to serve and protect,” she said in an interview with Beaumont’s KFDM News, “he didn’t get protected at all.”

Roy told The Associated Press that the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy discouraged her nephew from asking for help.

“That phrase is just stupid because it tells them they have no one to speak to,” she said.

The family plans to hold funeral services July 10 in Houston.

Democratic Rep. Bob Filner of San Diego said Thursday he wants a Defense Department investigation into the death, after leaders of the city’s gay community asked him to intervene.

Investigators have called the sailor’s death a random act unrelated to the his sexuality and have taken a “person of interest” into custody. No charges have been filed.

Roy said Provost joined the Navy in March 2008 to pay off college debt.

This is beyond tragic. I really hope they find this person or people who did this. Now, I could be assuming and I could be wrong, but I believe his murder is a hate crime.

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