MILITARY MONDAY

The U.S. military is aware of a rash of anti-gay killings in Iraq during the past eight months and is taking steps to curtail sectarian violence against all Iraqis, including gays, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. led multinational forces in Iraq.

“If someone is in danger of being slaughtered or persecuted, we do all we can to stop it,” said Army Maj. Joseph Todd Breasseale, chief of the Media Relations Division of the Multinational Corps in Iraq.
At least three men suspected of being gay were gunned down March 20 in the Iraqi city of Ramadi. U.S. forces say they are concerned about the rising number of anti-gay killings in Iraq



The father of a Marine whose funeral was picketed by an anti-gay group is taking them to court.

Albert Synder is seeking unspecified damages against Westboro Baptist Church, who picketed the funeral, accusing its members of "intentional and outrageous" conduct during his son's funeral service.

Mathew Snyder, 20, was killed in Iraq in a non combat vehicle accident in Al Anbar Province.

Craig Trebilcock, representing Mr Synder called the actions of the Westboro church "disruptive and mean-spirited”. The church believes that disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, AIDS, September 11th and military deaths in Iraq are due to the US's tolerance of homosexuality.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, an attorney and church member, said that the church would counter sue "for conspiracy to violate civil rights and violation of civil rights."

"If they think that coming after us is going to fix this, they are sadly mistaken,” Ms Phelps-Roper said. “We are people exercising protected rights of speech and religion."

Westboro Baptist, which has about 75 members has been causing enough distress picketing funerals that it has been restricted from doing so in 22 States. Members of the church have led over 22,000 demonstrations since 1991 but have only recently started picketing funerals.

Seven people marched on public city property outside Snyder's funeral waving placards declaring such messages as "Thank God for dead soldiers."

They also wrote about the family on the church's website, claiming that the soldier's parents; “taught Matthew to defy his creator, to divorce, and to commit adultery. They taught him how to support the largest paedophile machine in the history of the entire world, the Roman Catholic monstrosity”.



Wesley K Mitten, 21, is the 3rd solider from the 82nd Airborne Division to be charged with appearing on a gay military-themed website called Active Duty.

Mitten pleaded guilty to cocaine use, sodomy and conduct detrimental to the army. The soldier is one of seven men who were initially charged with violating the Uniform Code of Military justice.

On January 27th 2006, Fort Bragg in the US State of North Carolina announced that some of the men appearing on the ‘gay-for-pay’ website were from their 82nd Airborne Division.

All the soldiers involved were from the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

The videos on the Web site, Active Duty usually involve one or a group of military men enjoying solo or mutual masturbation and scenes of penetrative sex.

The dialogue often involves a discussion of the mens’ ‘experimental’ gay encounters.

In court, Mitten claimed the Web site's producer, Dink Flamingo contacted him through the Internet in 2005 and offered him $2,000 (£1,059) to perform in a gay porn shoot.

Mitten admitted to making an additional film, posing for erotic pictures and appearing live before a camera for online broadcasts. He earned $6,000 (£3,179) in three months.

"I am sorry for disgracing my family name and my unit," said Mitten, according to the Fayetteville Observer.

Richard Ashley was the first soldier charged in this case. He was sentenced to 90 days in prison, later reduced to 75 days. Ashley was also demoted to private and given a bad conduct discharge and a two-thirds reduction in pay.

Kagen B Mullen was also charged for appearing on the Web site. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors dropped the original charges of sodomy, pandering and adultery. Married with a young daughter, Mullen enlisted in the Army in 2004 and planned to serve for five years.

The 82nd Airborne said that the four other soldiers, whose names were not released, received non judicial punishment for appearing on the Web site.

They were reduced in rank to private, forfeited half a month's pay for two months, performed extra work and were restricted to Fort Bragg for 45 days.



The U.S. armed forces discharged 742 gay service members last year, an average of about two per day, according to new data from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.