NORFOLK, VIRGINIA – A Navy hazing case that led to the firing of the top enlisted officer aboard a nuclear submarine was sparked by gay jokes about a sailor who said another man tried to rape him while in a foreign port, according to an investigative report obtained by The Associated Press.
The report sheds light on a hazing case that led to the reassignment of Master Chief Machinist’s Mate Charles Berry, who had been serving as “chief of the boat” on the Kings Bay, Ga.-based USS Florida.
The Navy announced March 30 that Capt. Stephen Gillespie had relieved Berry as chief, due to dereliction of duty. Aboard a submarine, the chief of the boat advises the commanding officer of issues involving enlisted sailors.
The Navy’s announcement said the case involved allegations of hazing aboard Florida, but gave no details. It said Berry was not involved in the hazing, but had knowledge of it and failed to inform his chain of command.
Lt. Brian Wierzbicki, spokesman for Kings Bay’s submarine force, said Saturday he did not immediately have a contact number for Berry. The AP left a voice mail message at a phone listed for a Charles Berry in St. Marys, Ga.
An investigative report obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act says the hazing was directed at a sailor who had reported that another man pulled a knife and tried to rape him while in the port at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
All names in the documents provided to The Associated Press were redacted.
The report says the sailor was generally well-liked on the ship and endured the torment for months because he thought it would eventually stop. Among other things, he was called a derogatory term for a gay person and referred to as “Brokeback,” a reference to the gay-themed movie “Brokeback Mountain.” In addition, someone posted a drawing of a stick figure being sexually assaulted.
Before a group training session on the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, the sailor was subjected to comments about coming out of the closet and asked when other sailors could meet his boyfriend and whether his boyfriend was Filipino, the nationality of the person he said tried to rape him.
The report says the sailors who made the derogatory comments didn’t realize their shipmate had a knife pulled on him or the psychological toll the comments were taking on him. After eight months of harassment in 2011, the sailor eventually wrote a note saying he had suicidal thoughts and that he could snap and hurt himself or someone else.
The report says there was a culture of hazing and sexual harassment aboard the submarine and there was inadequate knowledge about the Navy’s policies against it to stop the behavior before the sailor reached that point.
More counseling and training was ordered at all levels to avoid similar problems in the future.
“The Navy’s standards for personal behavior are very high and it demands that sailors are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. When individuals fall short of this standard of professionalism and personal behavior, the Navy will take swift and decisive action to stop undesirable behavior, protect victims and hold accountable those who do not meet its standards,” the Navy said in the March 30 statement.
Berry was temporarily assigned to another post in Kings Bay. Several other junior sailors who participated in the harassment also faced disciplinary action, including loss of rank and pay.
Military suicides in response to hazing have recently gotten the attention of Congress. The nephew of Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., killed himself after enduring hazing by his fellow Marines in Afghanistan. A congressional hearing on military hazing was held earlier this year, and Chu is pushing a proposal to better track and define hazing in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
“We’re talking about acts that can result in death, but if not death, then clearly trauma. These are folks that can have post-traumatic stress syndrome because of the acts of others,” Chu said. “These are peers administering justice to peers. What happened to the hierarchy that is supposed to be occurring in the military?”
The hazing episode is among a series of embarrassing incidents for the Navy’s submarine force that were addressed in a blog post this week by Vice Adm. John Richardson focusing on the importance of character.
“A violation by one seems to be a violation against all,” wrote Richardson, the Norfolk-based commander of the Navy’s submarine force.
The Navy recently started a training course to discuss real-life examples of bad personal decisions that other officers have made in the past.
The Navy also issued new guidelines earlier this month to ensure that future leaders are all held to the same leadership standards, regardless of their command, during job screening.
from The Associated Press

Luka Magnotta

CANADA – Luka Rocco Magnotta, accused of killing and dismembering Chinese student Jun Lin, has asked a Quebec court for a trial by judge and jury, but didn’t request a psychiatric assessment, as some expected he would.
Magnotta appeared in person at the Montreal courthouse on Thursday, with only seven journalists allowed inside the room for his brief hearing.
The accused has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and four other charges in Lin’s grisly killing. The 33-year-old permanent Canadian resident died May 24 or 25.
Magnotta is accused of mailing Lin’s body parts to different places including the Ottawa offices of the Conservative Party of Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada and two Vancouver schools. He is also accused of posting a video of the events on the internet.
Luc Leclair, a prominent Toronto lawyer, has joined Magnotta’s defence team, and requested his client be transferred from detention to attend the Thursday hearing.
Wearing a short-sleeved plaid shirt and blue jeans, Magnotta, 29, stood inside the glass-panelled prisoner’s box flanked by two guards as his lawyers spoke to the judge.
His lawyers requested a trial by judge and jury, while the prosecution asked for a publication ban on details of Magnotta’s prescription medication.
Leclair told the judge he’s concerned about Magnotta physical and mental well-being, and that his client needs access to his medication.
The charges he faces also include defiling Lin’s corpse, harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and members of Parliament, and publishing and mailing obscene material.
The defence didn’t ask for a psychological assessment, which would have evaluated whether Magnotta is apt to be tried.
Magnotta’s original defence lawyer, Pierre Panaccio, said earlier this week he’d consider the option of a psychiatric evaluation request.
Magnotta ‘trusts’ Canadian legal system
After the court appearance, Leclair spoke to reporters outside the Montreal courthouse.
He thanked Berlin authorities for taking “exemplary care” of his client, and explained Magnotta waived his rights to contest extradition “because he wanted to come back to Montreal.”
“He trusts the Canadian judicial system,” Leclair said.
Magnotta’s 10-day preliminary hearing, scheduled for March 2013, will be preceded by a pre-trial hearing in January.
A representative for the Crown prosecution office said a March 2013 preliminary hearing is relatively soon, given courthouse constraints and judge availability.
The Crown and defence previously agreed to set a date for his preliminary hearing, in order to avoid another court event.
Victim’s family travelled to Montreal
Magnotta was extradited from Germany to Montreal aboard a Canadian Forces aircraft on June 18, surrounded by heavy security detail that included local police investigators, RCMP officers and Canadian Border Services authorities.
His extradition came two weeks after his June 4 arrest in Berlin at a cybercafé, where an employee recognized him from Interpol-issued photos.
The international police agency orchestrated a global manhunt for Magnotta after Montreal police issued a warrant for his arrest.
Chinese national Jun Lin was a student at Concordia University.Chinese national Jun Lin was a student at Concordia University. (CBC)
Magnotta is currently being held at a detention centre in Rivières-des-Prairies, a borough on the eastern edge of the island of Montreal.
Jun Lin’s torso was found in a suitcase outside an apartment in Montreal on May 29, the same day his hand and foot were mailed to the Ottawa offices of the federal Conservative and Liberal parties.
His other hand and foot were discovered by staff opening packages at two schools in Vancouver several days later.
Lin’s family has travelled to Montreal from China to retrieve his remains. Lin’s head has yet to be found nearly a month after his death.
The victim’s family have kept a low profile since their arrival in Canada, and have expressed to police their great hope of retrieving Lin’s missing head.
In an open letter published earlier this month, they called their adult son the family’s “pride and joy.”
from CBC
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An increasing number of U.S. hospitals have adopted policies that explicitly ban discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual patients, according to a report to be released Tuesday.
An annual survey by the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group, found that over 95 percent of more than 400 hospitals and clinics included sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policies and nearly 80 percent included gender identity in those policies. Additionally, more than 65 percent of inpatient hospitals had explicit policies granting equal visitation rights to same-sex couples and same-sex parents.
The results of the voluntary survey, taken last year, reflect the increased prominence of nondiscriminatory care, the advocacy group said. In 2010, President Obama mandated that nearly all hospitals extend visitation rights to the partners of gay men and lesbians, and new rules were subsequently issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Last year, the Joint Commission, the largest accrediting organization for U.S. hospitals, also issued new standards specifically prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“I commend the LGBT and healthcare communities for the progress made and I am proud to be part of an administration that has a historic record of accomplishment for the LGBT community,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. “We will continue to take action to ensure that LGBT Americans get equal treatment in healthcare settings and that all patients are treated with the dignity they deserve.”
The report is scheduled to be presented at Howard University Hospital in Washington.
The advocacy group said there was a 40 percent increase in the number of health-care facilities participating in the voluntary survey, from 87 respondents in 2010 to 122 respondents, representing 407 hospitals and clinics, in 2011. Although that represents a fraction of the more than 4,000 hospitals in the United States, the issue is gaining prominence, the group said.
“Just a few short years ago, the healthcare industry wasn’t having conversations about LGBT healthcare equality,” Chad Griffin, president of the organization, said in a statement.
Among the facilities participating for the first time were a Veterans Administration hospital in Madison, Wis., and the Bon Secours Health System, which operates 14 hospitals in Maryland, Virginia and three other states.
Locally, Washington Adventist and Shady Grove Adventist hospitals also took part for the first time. This year, Washington Adventist apologized after a Takoma Park woman filed complaints with federal health authorities and the main hospital accreditation commission after staff at the hospital denied her permission to visit her same-sex partner, who was taken there after suffering a seizure.
The two Maryland hospitals and Howard University Hospital were among 234 facilities that received perfect ratings for protecting patients and employees from discrimination, ensuring equal visitation access for same-sex couples and same-sex parents, and providing specific staff training for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender care.
The report revealed other gaps. For example, 34 percent of facilities that ask about marital status at admitting or registration do not offer a “partner” or “significant other” option. The facilities that took part in the survey are located in 32 states and the District. In 18 states, mostly in the Midwest, no health-care facilities participated.
Not all hospitals within a network chose to participate. In the Washington region, MedStar Georgetown Hospital earned a perfect rating, but MedStar Washington Hospital Center did not participate. Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore also earned a perfect score, as did Sibley Memorial Hospital, part of the Hopkins health system. But Suburban Hospital, in Bethesda, which is also part of that system, did not participate.
from The Washington Post

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