THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 12, 1994 TAG: 9407120327
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Lt. j.g. Tracy Thorne, the former Oceana-based Navy flier whose televised declaration of his homosexuality put him in the fore of the gay rights movement, is ``an exemplary lieutenant'' who ``was held in high regard'' by co-workers, two of his colleagues told a Navy review board Monday.
``My biggest administrative nightmare right now is trying to figure out how to replace him,'' said Cmdr. Craig Luigart, Thorne's current boss at the Naval Air Systems Command in Washington.
The testimony came as the Navy began a second attempt to discharge Thorne because he is gay, this time under the ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy approved by Congress last year. Thorne was dismissed in May 1993 under a previous policy but was reinstated last January with the understanding that he would get a new hearing under the revised regulation.
A board of three captains is expected to decide the case Wednesday. Scores of similar proceedings are under way or have been held in recent weeks as the military and service members test the new policy.
Patrick Lee, Thorne's lead attorney, all but conceded on Monday that he expects the former A-6 bombadier-navigator to be discharged. He said Thorne will carry the fight to U.S. District Court, where he will challenge the constitutionality of the military's ban on homosexuals.
The Navy board is limited to considering whether Thorne has violated the policy, which bars homosexual conduct by service members and says public declarations that a member is gay create a ``rebuttable presumption'' that he has engaged in that conduct.
The Navy's case Monday relied on a series of statements by Thorne acknowledging his homosexuality, including the 1992 interview on ABC-TV's ``Nightline'' that catapulted him to prominence.
Questioned by Lt. Peter Dutton, the government's lead attorney, one defense witness said Thorne now shares a Washington apartment with a man who the witness understands is gay. Lee, Thorne's lawyer, declined later to answer a reporter's question about any relationship between Thorne and the roommate, terming it a private matter.
Among the defense exhibits Monday was a letter Thorne sent in January to Luigart asserting, ``I am proud to be who I am and I do not deny my sexual orientation,'' and accepting the Navy's right to regulate sexual activity ``aboard military vessels, aircraft and other areas under military control.''
He would not violate those rules, Thorne promised, but ``beyond these assurances, I consider my sexual life, whether orientation or conduct, as private as anyone else's and I do not believe it should be of interest or concern to the Navy.''
Lt. Todd Suko, who trained with Thorne in 1990 and lived with him for almost a year, said Thorne ``set the example, certainly in our class.'' In the 11 months they shared a Pensacola, Fla., apartment, Suko said, Thorne never made advances toward him or gave any indication of homosexuality.
Suko said he was ``shocked'' when Thorne confided his sexual orientation in 1991.
Thorne's glowing Navy record and willingness to fight in public have made his case a cause celebre for gay activists. At the outset of Monday's hearing, the Navy sought to close the proceedings to reporters and other outsiders, including Thorne's mother, Pat, but reversed itself after the defense objected.
Lt. Cate Mueller, a Navy spokeswoman, said the hearing was to be closed to protect the privacy of witnesses, one of whom was questioned Monday about his sexuality. The hearing was opened when everyone involved indicated he or she had no objection to answering such questions in public, she said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
AP File
A Navy review board on Monday began hearing testimony on whether
there's enough evidence to discharge Lt. j.g. Tracy Thorne under the
new ``don't ask, don't tell'' policy that governs gays in the
military.
KEYWORDS: GAYS IN THE MILITARY U.S. NAVY by CNB