Rights groups: Sailor’s slaying was hate crime - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Rights groups: Sailor’s slaying was hate crime

Gay activists are demanding answers from the Navy after an openly gay sailor was found dead early Tuesday in a guard shack at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., a victim of what gay rights groups said was a hate crime.

Navy investigators confirmed they considered the death of Boatswain’s Mate Seaman August Provost, 29, a homicide, but they would not confirm that Provost’s sexuality was a factor in his death.

Officials said a “person of interest” was being detained in the brig at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in connection with Provost’s death, but he was not identified, not considered a formal suspect and had not been charged with a crime. A Navy spokeswoman said she did not have information about whether the “person of interest” was a Marine or other service member.

Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said Thursday that he had asked the Defense Department and the House Armed Services Committee to investigate whether Provost’s death was a hate crime, after being contacted by San Diego gay rights groups. Filner said Provost’s body was found shot and burned, although a spokesman for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service would not confirm that detail.

Provost identified himself as gay on his Facebook and MySpace social network pages, and described 18-year-old Kaether Cordero, of Houston, “the love of my life.”

On Nov. 8, 2008, Provost wrote on his MySpace page: “I just am going to say a few words. I miss my boyfriend and I am missing all my family back at home ... LOVE YOU ALL ... Miss you KAETHER ...”

Denny Meyer, a spokesman for the American Veterans for Equal Rights, a gay veterans’ group, said he understood many of Provost’s shipmates in Assault Craft Unit 5 knew he was gay. Navy Times was not able to reach other members of ACU 5 by press time.

“The people in this unit knew that, and it was no problem, which is a common thing these days,” Meyer said. Meyer and other gay rights groups said Provost’s death showed that Congress should repeal the law that forbids gays from serving openly, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Provost reportedly complained to his family that he was being harassed for being open, but he couldn’t tell his command without violating the prohibition against gays. If he could’ve served openly, he could’ve told commanders about the harassment and might have prevented his attack, Meyer said.

“Some people could say, ‘Ah, this is a reason why don’t ask, don’t tell shouldn’t be repealed’ — that’s incorrect. If a white soldier murders a black soldier, that’s no reason to keep black soldiers out of the military,” Meyer said.

Provost joined the Navy in 2008, his records show; he reported to ACU 5 on Sept. 4. He attended Texas A&M University for three years and, according to a report in the San Diego Union-Tribune, hoped to become an architectural engineer.

Related reading

• Pendleton sailor death investigated as homicide