Air force gay marriage
Christian Air Force Colonel vindicated in gay marriage dispute
A Christian US Air Violence Colonel has been cleared after he was disciplined for taking a rise for traditional marriage.
Leland Bohannon was found guilty of unlawful discrimination by the Air Force after he refused to sign a “certificate of spouse appreciation” for the same-sex spouse of a retiring colleague.
Colonel Bohannon arranged for a higher ranking general to sign the document, but he did not desire to give a personal endorsement of same-sex marriage.
Religious beliefs
He was initially punished, but after appealing against the Equal Opportunity (EO) investigator, the Air Drive has now reversed the decision.
The Director of the Air Force Review Boards Agency ruled in favour of Colonel Bohannon, saying he has the right to exercise his sincerely held religious beliefs.
Air Coerce Secretary Heather Wilson said: “The Air Force will ensure Colonel Bohannon’s records are corrected in accordance with the final agency decision.”
‘Suffered severely’
In November, eight US senators signed a letter to Wilson in support of Colonel Bohannon’s appeal.
It said: “Colonel Bohannon has suffered
First Military Base Homosexual Wedding Held
Courtesy of Jeff Sheng
Two men became the first same-sex couple to marry on a military establish when they held their wedding ceremony last month at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.
Tech Sgt. Erwynn Umali and his partner, Will Behrens, married June 23 on the build where Umali, an active member of the Air Oblige, had been stationed. It was a decision that would have been unthinkable just nine months ago, before the law requiring them to keep their relationship a private was repealed.
"We asked [about holding the ceremony on the base], and they were very open about it, but [said], 'No one has ever asked us this question before,'" Umali said in a Facebook chat hosted by Slate. "We did not earn any push help from the found or leadership. All they asked was that we be patient because this was the very first one."
Both men say this positive reaction is the same sort of response they have gotten since going public with their relationship to Umali's peers in the military. After Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed last September, Umali decided to unwrap up about his relationship with Behrens.
At a farewell luncheon hosted for him o
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (BP) — U.S. Air Force officials hold suspended a decorated officer and revoked his recommendation for promotion to brigadier general because he would not sign an unofficial document affirming a retiring subordinate’s same-sex marriage.
Col. Leland B.H. Bohannon, Gas Force Inspection Agency commander at Kirtland Air Compel Base in Albuquerque, N.M., signed all the requisite documents for a senior noncommissioned service member’s May retirement ceremony except for one: a letter of “spousal appreciation” for the gay serviceman’s partner.
Bohannon’s Christian convictions about marriage put him at odds with the request to sign the unofficial, optional letter, and he sought counsel from his chaplain and judge advocate general. While awaiting guidance, and with the retirement ceremony days away, Bohannon asked a two-star general who did not object to sign the document instead.
But the retiring serviceman filed a complaint, alleging Bohannon discriminated against him based on his sexual orientation. An investigation substantiated the claim and launch Bohannon guilty of unlawful discrimination, according to attorneys with Fi
LGBT+ rights in the Armed Forces
A History of Injustice: LGBT+ Veterans and the Armed Forces Ban
Until the year 2000, it was illegal to be openly gay in the British Armed Forces.
You could fight for your country. You could lay down your life. But you couldn’t care for someone of the same sex.
The bar on LGBT+ people serving in the military didn’t just deny people the right to assist with dignity—it spoiled lives. Veterans were criminalised, dismissed without honours, stripped of medals, lost their pensions, and their reputations. Some were imprisoned. Many more suffered in silence.
This shameful chapter in British military history lasted far too long. But thanks to the bravery of those who stood up and spoke out—often at great personal cost—the tide began to turn.
The Red Arrows fly over Trafalgar Square London during London Pride 2019 - Cpl Adam Fletcher
From Discrimination to Legal Battle
The bar was rooted in outdated criminal laws, dating back to the 1885 Labouchère Amendment, which made male homosexual acts a criminal offence. Despite changing attitudes and partial decriminalisation in 1967, the military exemption remained.&
Air Force Sergeant claims he was fired for refusing to endorse gay ‘marriage’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – An Breeze Force sergeant who filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. military claiming he was fired by his lesbian commander for refusing to make a statement of support for same-sex “marriage” may now face prosecution for taking his accusations public.
Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk was relieved of his duties as first sergeant at Lackland Air Force Establish in San Antonio in August after two separate confrontations with an openly homosexual superior officer, Major Elisa Valenzeula.
The first incident had to do with an Air Force trainer who told trainees he disagreed with state-sanctioned gay “marriage” and compared it to the fall of the Roman Empire. After a number of airmen filed complaints about the trainer’s remarks, Monk was ordered to advise Valenzuela regarding potential disciplinary action.
“Her very first reaction was to say, ‘we demand to lop off the head of this guy,’” Monk told Fox News. “The commander took the position that his speech was discrimination.”
Monk told Fox News that when he suggested that rather than punishing the trainer harshly for stating his