Rachel Maddow interviews Nathaniel Frank last March
(video: The Rachel Maddow Show at YouTube)
Nathaniel Frank, writing at The Huffington Post, claims the death of Seaman August Provost is “Exhibit A” for why Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell must end now:
Will We Wait Until Another Gay Sailor Is Murdered?
Last week a 29-year-old gay sailor was found shot to death at a guard shack at Camp Pendleton. The question that immediately rose to the minds of gay advocates who remember the anti-gay murder of Private First Class Barry Winchell exactly a decade ago, was whether Seaman August Provost was killed because he’s gay.
While human rights activists have worked to ensure a full investigation, the Navy has downplayed the role of Provost’s sexual orientation, saying there is “no evidence or information that suggests this is a hate crime” and that it has “no indication that there is any tie to what may or may not have been his sexuality.”
To which it must be said: of course the Navy has no evidence about Provost’s homosexuality or about what links that may have had to his death. The military does not allow the Navy to have evidence of either, under its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, the fate of which is now being debated in Washington.
Frank closes with this: “We don’t yet know the circumstances of Provost’s death. But is there any sense at all in waiting until another service member is murdered before something is done to end this madness?”
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