Gays In The Military. Vincent Cianni

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      PAGES 54–55, 248

      CHARLES CHRISTOPHER BYRNE, PLATTSBURGH, NY, 2011

      OPERATIONS SPECIALIST SECOND CLASS, U.S. NAVY, 1989–1999

      SPECIALIST E–2, U.S. COAST GUARD, 1999–PRESENT

      Chief of Operations. Appellate leave; special court martial; awaiting discharge results

      I was born in the Philippines in 1969 and was adopted by my aunt because she was not able to have kids. She adopted a girl from her older sister, got married to an American sailor and moved to San Diego. I never knew my real father. He was also a sailor.

      I decided to join the U.S. Navy in the delayed entry program because they offered money to go to school. I went to boot camp, expected to only do one term, then go to college. But the Gulf War started. I was an operations specialist with Intelligence, so I kept being sent out. I was married at the time, and my wife got pregnant—we had our son in ’91. She couldn’t deal with me being gone so much and wanted a divorce. My concern was my son, so we stayed on good terms.

      My first encounter [with a man] was on board ship. The individual was a good friend of mine. He was married. We were drunk. Out of the blue he made a move on me, and I did not resist. We were hanging out more and I think it became obvious. It was reported and the Naval Investigative Service [NIS] got involved. Next thing you know, we’re at the NIS station at the base in Bremerton being interrogated. I didn’t know what was going on, but I was denying everything. They had no evidence. Three days of interrogation, and then on the third day, out of the blue, in the middle of interrogation, a guy came in and said this interview was over. The investigators left the room, and then this guy came back in and he apologized, “The charges have been dropped. If you want to, you could file a complaint.” I didn’t. I just wanted this done and over with.

      I put ten years into the Navy [and was honorably discharged]. When I signed up with the Coast Guard through MEPS, it became a smooth transition. I didn’t lose rank, I didn’t lose time, I didn’t lose pay. I just changed uniforms. I was a radar man working for Vessel Traffic Services [VTS]. Then I met my partner. At the time he was fifty. He was HIV positive and had been since the ’80s. He started having difficulties and I was having a hard time at work, because I was taking a lot of time off trying to be there for him.

      I started getting counseled for it and was put on probation for six months. When I left VTS, I figured this would be my last tour before I retire. We didn’t have a ship, so we were sent to Coast Guard Island in Alameda until the ship was ready for delivery. By that time, I had made chief in the Coast Guard. When I went to my new command, they were aware of my situation. It continued because my partner was getting worse. I was trying to come up with excuses so I could get time off to see him.

      The command decided to do a urine analysis for everybody. I was called into our XO’s [executive officer’s] office and was presented with the result saying that mine [tested] positive with cocaine. I don’t do any drugs; only thing I do is drink alcohol. “You’re under investigation. Here’s the number for legal in San Diego.” I got a legal representative and came out to them. “Here’s the whole story. I’m gay; I’m being targeted. I have a partner and I handle his meds. He’s on morphine patches.” They explained to me, “It’s not like you had a huge amount in your system, only 276 nanograms. They allow 100.”

      They took me out from my command. Nobody could talk to me until the court martial. They sent me to work for three senior chiefs and they treated me like I was in boot camp. I did everything that they wanted. After three months doing all the shitty jobs and digging trenches, I was working with other kids in trouble counseling them.

      Before the trial started, my attorneys gave me a request for a Bad Conduct Discharge [BCD] to get an automatic appeal because the Coast Guard is the only [branch] that, even though you can be found not guilty, they can put you through administrative discharge process immediately. The verdict came back guilty and [my lawyer] said, “I think we’d better submit the BCD.” So I fill it out and she went in the judge’s chambers with the prosecution. The judge came out; he was shocked that I submitted this. I was reduced to E-2 and that was the last day I was on Coast Guard Island.