Battlegrounds Continued
Dateline: 1/16/98
It's highly unlikely that you haven't heard some reference to what is being referred to (at least by me) as "The AOL Profile Case."
Here's a rundown of the events, as they occurred.
The original story by the discharged sailor, a 17 year vet suddenly under fire .... because the word "gay" in his presumably anonymous AOL profile was enough for the Navy to discharge this vet. He asked us all to send letters on his behalf (which was featured here as an Action Alert.) as he details how his AOL account information was provided to the Navy confiming his ownership of an account with the word "gay" in the "marital status" portion of its profile.
Almost immediately (Jan 12) we heard the Navy defending the discharge, claiming that the pseudononymous profile was a "statement" while Privacy and Gay groups steamed full speed ahead with additional action alert requests, noting AOL's privacy violation along with the Navy's pursuit of what should of been an anonymous sailor.
The topic was bandied about in newsgroups stemming from those who hate AOL to a wide variety of gay and lesbian newsgroups such as soc.motss and alt.politics.homosexuality. Some people post that McVeigh isn't even gay, some suggesting that he used the word "gay" in his profile to lure and gaybash, others noting that given the circumstances, perhaps denial is best in order to point out the absurdity of the Navy's action based upon a "profile" in which people can put any information they choose, none of it having to be real. Official reports however state that McVeigh is merely "declining to comment" upon his orientation. A position he is forced into due to not only the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" provisions but, if he is gay, the provisions that prohibit lying in response to a question.
David Cassel's " AOL Watch" provided its own rundown of the events, noting previous occasions when privacy of AOL account information, mandated both by Federal Law and AOL's own Terms of Service, has been less than exemplary.
We heard rumblings that the White House was getting involved - and just yesterday (January 15) the most stunning news of all .... the pentagon has announced that it is "delaying" McVeigh's discharge in light of AOL's privacy violations, and the very public knowledge of the Navy's own misconduct in this matter.
Notice that the Navy is only "delaying" the discharge, so McVeigh isn't out of the water. Will the Navy be searching for "other evidence" that McVeigh is gay? Will they quietly discharge McVeigh based upon his AOL profile once the hooplah has died down? Or is it possible that they will stay backed-off and leave McVeigh be?
We'll continue to follow this story in our News section, as it happens, when it happens.
While you're here, why don't you share your thoughts in our message boards.
In Pride,
Deborah
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