Navy delays
McVeigh ouster

The Pearl Harbor sailor, accused
of being gay, is suing the Navy

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

The Navy today postponed for a week the discharge of a decorated Pearl Harbor sailor accused of being gay while Justice Department and other military officials review the way the case was handled.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Timothy McVeigh, 36, was supposed to be discharged today for "homosexual conduct admittance" based on information he voluntarily placed on a computer online service.

Also in Washington, D.C., today, McVeigh attorney Christopher Wolf filed a federal lawsuit against the Navy and the Department of Defense maintaining that the military violated not only its "don't ask, don't tell" policy on homosexuals, but also a federal privacy law.

Dixon Osburn, spokesman for the Servicemembers' Legal Defense Network, said Justice Department and Pentagon attorneys this morning agreed to postpone until Jan. 21 McVeigh's discharge while his case is being reviewed.

Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, an openly gay lawmaker, and 20 other members of Congress yesterday sent a letter to Navy Secretary John Dalton asking him to revoke the discharge of McVeigh (no relation to the man convicted of bombing the federal building in Oklahoma City).

Although McVeigh's discharge would be an honorable one, he would be barred from drawing a pension.

A Navy official at the Pentagon this morning acknowledged that Dalton received McVeigh's request and is reviewing his case.

McVeigh, a 17-year veteran of the nation's submarine fleet, is fighting the discharge on the grounds that the Navy's only evidence against him is the use of the word "gay" to describe his marital status in an America Online member profile.

Frank, in the two-page letter to Dalton, questions how McVeigh's profile "could be deemed a statement of sexual orientation, given the fact that he maintained the profile under what amounted to a pseudonym. Presumably a 'statement' of one's sexual orientation requires that the speaker intended to convey that information - McVeigh clearly did not."

Frank also questioned the way the Navy confirmed McVeigh's identity, because the paralegal who called AOL never identified himself as a military investigator. Kirk Childress, attorney with the Servicemembers' Legal Defense Network, yesterday said he believes the Navy violated the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which bars service providers such as AOL from providing government agencies with information without a search warrant, court order or subpoena.

AOL also has issued a statement questioning whether the Navy investigator properly identified himself. McVeigh, who until September was the highest ranking enlisted man on the nuclear attack submarine USS Chicago, admitted creating a user profile on AOL under the name Tim. He said he had no other identifying information except the word "gay" to describe his marital status.

An ombudsman for the Chicago, a Navy wife, with whom McVeigh was communicating by e-mail about a project, used his e-mail address to access his profile and turned the information over to Pacific Fleet Submarine Forces officials at Pearl Harbor.

The Navy maintains that by stating his sexual orientation on the AOL user profile, McVeigh had publicly acknowledged his homosexuality. McVeigh said he won't reveal his sexual orientation.

Frank said the McVeigh case "constitutes a dramatic example of the Armed Forces' misapplication and inconsistent application of the (don't ask, don't tell) policy."

The Massachusetts Democrat said he has been informed of past cases "in which the Navy decided that for its own convenience the service member should remain. In contrast, McVeigh's continued service has apparently been determined to be inconvenient for someone in a position to effect his discharge, notwithstanding his unblemished 17-year record."