WaPo ombudsman: paper wrong to recloset deceased gay soldier

by: Pam Spaulding

Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 14:00:00 PM EDT

The Post ran a story March 22 about the burial at Arlington National Cemetery of Army Maj. Alan G. Rogers, a decorated war hero killed in an explosion in Baghdad. The subject of much journalistic soul-searching, the story did not mention that Rogers's friends said that he was gay and was well known in local gay veterans' circles. The Washington Blade, a gay-oriented newspaper, identified him as gay in a story Friday that was critical of The Post.

...A gay group tipped The Post that there should be a story saying Rogers was the first openly gay soldier to die in Iraq. Reporter Donna St. George was assigned to the story and interviewed friends who said that he was gay but couldn't share that in the military under the "don't ask, don't tell" rule.

St. George first wrote a story that included his friends talking about his orientation; some at the paper felt that was the right thing to do. But the material was omitted when the story was published. Many editors discussed the issue, and it was "an agonizing decision," one said. The decision ultimately was made by Executive Editor Len Downie, who said that there was no proof that Rogers was gay and no clear indication that, if he was, he wanted the information made public.

Downie said that what Rogers's friends said and the fact that Rogers was a former treasurer of American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER) were not enough. Downie pointed out that many straight journalists belong to the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.

James A. "Tony" Smith of Alexandria, an Air Force veteran, knew Rogers through AVER. He said that Rogers "was very open about being gay. It was a major part of his life. It does a disservice to his memory" not to mention it.

Rogers abided by "don't ask, don't tell" only because "he wanted to stay a soldier," Smith said. "He was first and foremost a soldier, and he loved serving his country." Rogers's ties to the veterans group were "widely and publicly known." Austin Rooke, Rogers's friend and a former Army captain, said, "He was among the most open active-duty military people I've ever met. I can't imagine him not wanting people to know."

Te Washington Blade's lead story Friday was sharply critical of The Post. Its editor, Kevin Naff, sent Howell an e-mail, which she quotes in her column: "It's a double standard to report basic facts about straight subjects like marital status, while actively suppressing similar information about gay subjects." I agree.

...A former Army officer and longtime SLDN supporter spoke eloquently to the issue in a recent e-mail: "All we wanted was to be able to talk about [Alan Rogers] as a friend and loved one and for our relationship with him to be honored. The Post didn't just bury the fact of his sexual orientation, it appears to have gone to some lengths to excise that entire portion of his life. It's as if our relationship with Alan never existed. That's what's so disrespectful about what they did. What they denied to Alan in death was exactly what the Army had denied him all his life: a chance, for once, to cease all the obsessive compartmentalization that the military required of all of us, and integrate all aspects of his life into a seamless whole."