Three Colonels Punished Over Skit Mocking Gays
Reprimands, put in local file, may be shredded later
By Joe Gould - Staff writer
The Army has reprimanded three colonels who performed a skit that mocked homosexuals and parodied new rules meant to protect gays in the military, a top Army official told Army Times.At a dinner attended by top officials from the Eighth Army in Korea, the officers used effeminate gestures as they portrayed musicians Elton John and George Michael as soldiers; then they lip-synched to a song by Boy George, said Lt. Gen. John D. Johnson, the commander Eighth Army and chief of staff for U.S. Forces Korea.
John, Michael and George are all openly gay.
The skit was performed as the military transitions out of its long-standing policy to prohibit gay service members from serving openly, “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The organization at the heart of the incident, the Eighth Army, had scheduled post-DADT training for its brigade leaders the following day.
“They attempted to make light of the change we were making and the transition of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” Johnson told Army Times in an interview May 10. “They did it in a way that was offensive to some people and it didn’t get their point across, and quite frankly, I think they embarrassed themselves in the process.”
Alex Nicholson, the executive director of Servicemembers United, an advocacy organization for gays in the military, called the Army’s response “appropriate.”
“This is a sign that senior leaders are taking this policy change seriously and coming down on the people who cross the line professionally,” Nicholson said. “There seems to be top-down leadership of this rollout to discourage this type of behavior.”
The skit was performed at an informal dinner and lip-synching exhibition March 22 at the Dragon Hill Lodge at Yongsan Garrison. Following a strategic planning conference held by Johnson, it was attended by top officers in the Eighth Army, their senior enlisted advisers and their spouses.
John had asked the commanders in advance to prepare a song to lip synch.
The organization’s own post-DADT training highlighted why the previous evening’s skit was inappropriate, Johnson said.
“It was obvious to everyone associated with this thing that what they had done was inappropriate because there was every chance that someone could have been offended by this, in particular, potentially gay soldiers,” he said.
Johnson, who said he was not present for the skit, said he later issued the officers administrative reprimands which said they “displayed extremely poor judgment.”
“It’s a written reprimand that says ... what they did had the potential to send the message that either they didn’t respect homosexual soldiers, or that perhaps they didn’t respect this change the military’s going through,” Johnson said.
The reprimands were placed in the officers’ local files, to be shredded when they move on, unless Johnson later decides otherwise.
Johnson’s investigation did not determine that they violated any regulations.
He also counseled two command sergeants major who he deemed to have had a marginal role. He advised them that they could have intervened to rein in the skit.
The colonels were Mark Elliott, commander of the 1st Signal Brigade; Brian Dunn, commander of the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, and Joseph Cox, commander of the 501st Military Intelligence Brigade.
All are combat veterans, whose performance until that point had been exemplary; nothing else indicates “anything other than the application of poor judgment.”
“It’s an aberration and not reflective of how these guys are as commanders,” Johnson said.
Johnson said all had written him apologetic letters that explained it hadn’t been their intent to be disrespectful.
“What they wanted to do was edgy, and they didn’t intend to cross the line,” Johnson said. “It didn’t put me in a difficult position. It put me in a position as a leader to help these guys understand what is appropriate and what isn’t, and that’s what we expect our leaders to do.”
Johnson said their behavior sent the wrong message.
“That’s not the way the Army does things. We treat people with dignity and respect,” Johnson said. “You may not agree with their lifestyles, but there are a lot of reasons people don’t agree with each other’s lifestyle, but in the end, you treat each other with respect as a fellow soldier and what they bring as a soldier.”
Nicholson said the officers probably did not need more severe punishment, but he questioned their behavior, which he called “silly,” especially for their rank.
“You might expect if it was more junior officers involved, acting like silly kids and crossing the line, but because it is an O-6, it sends the wrong message,” Nicholson said. “Any time you have someone that high-ranking doing something unprofessionally, it undermines their authority.”
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