Gay Sailor Murder a Hate Crime?

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-05-2009
Gay Sailor Murder a Hate Crime?
7
Fri, 07-03-2009 - 10:39pm

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6510578.html



Gay sailor’s family blames military after his death
They say the government did little after Houstonian complained of harassment


 


BEAUMONT — Relatives of a slain sailor are calling the 29-year-old’s death a hate crime.

Rose Roy of Beaumont said her nephew, Navy Seaman August Provost III, had complained a year before about being harassed for being gay.


Roy said she advised Provost to report and document the incidents, but she said the military did little to help.


“He went to the Navy to serve and protect,” she said in an interview with Beaumont’s KFDM News, “he didn’t get protected at all.”


Roy told The Associated Press that the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy discouraged her nephew from asking for help.


“That phrase is just stupid because it tells them they have no one to speak to,” she said.


The 29-year-old Houston native was found dead Tuesday at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego. Roy said the family was told that Provost was shot three times, had his hands and feet bound, his mouth gagged, and body burned.


The family plans to hold funeral services July 10 in Houston.


Democratic Rep. Bob Filner of San Diego said Thursday he wants a Defense Department investigation into the death, after leaders of the city’s gay community asked him to intervene.


Investigators have called the sailor’s death a random act unrelated to the his sexuality and have taken a “person of interest” into custody. No charges have been filed.


Roy said Provost joined the Navy in March 2008 to pay off college debt.


The first account I read this morning was that he was on guard duty at a gate and was murdered there.  And I thought that might just be the most brazen of crimes.. and I have a sinking feeling that this is a hate crime. 


Too sick.


zz

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-22-2009
Fri, 07-03-2009 - 11:53pm

~Roy told The Associated Press that the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy discouraged her nephew from asking for help. “That phrase is just stupid because it tells them they have no one to speak to,” she said.~


That's probably true.


~Investigators have called the sailor’s death a random act unrelated to the his sexuality...~


Just to follow up:


"The chairman the House Veterans Affairs Committee is calling for a Defense Department and Marine Corps probe to see if the killing of a gay sailor at Camp Pendleton was a hate crime."


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hSiIIisciiA6CGQgz687N-ketUKwD996LH380

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Sat, 07-04-2009 - 8:18am

What a terrible death this young man must have suffered.

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-05-2009
Fri, 07-24-2009 - 12:16am

The update doesn't seem to have anything to do with a hate crime... instead, it's a crazy demented criminal

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 07-24-2009 - 8:02am
Thanks for the update.
Photobucket

 


Photobucket&nbs

Community Leader
Registered: 04-05-2002
Fri, 07-24-2009 - 8:42am

It's a heinous crime and Provost obviously suffered from harassment and discrimination (and I agree w/ everyone that the whole "don't ask, don't tell" contributes to the problem) but has there been anything that showed the reasons Campos did it? He's alleged to have used mushrooms and broken into someone else's home, too.






iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Sat, 07-25-2009 - 3:38pm

This is awful...plus, my gut says that the Navy is trying to distract from the issue of "Don't ask, Don't tell" here.


iVillage Member
Registered: 02-05-2009
Sat, 08-01-2009 - 1:00pm

Looks like the family may never get answers now....