9.04.2009

Joseph Roch discharged for being abused

How else can you see it. Stories like this one make me boil and cry at the same time. I get a gut wrenching pain as if someone is tearing me apart from the inside out. This could have been me or you or someone you know.

read more here in the Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — Former Petty Officer 3rd Class Joseph Rocha says he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after being physically and sexually abused by fellow sailors over a two-year period. But after a Navy investigation into widespread hazing allegations within the unit, the only sailor discharged was Rocha, because he also admitted that he is gay.
So in the land of Lady Liberty and Home of the brave, this young man was deemed expendable, less than others, despite finishing at the top of his class despite excellent performance reviews, he was the one of the best young men America had to offer. They discharged him because he said he was gay when they investigated the complaint made on his behalf by another soldier.

America you owe this man a great deal and a good number of other young men that have done all you asked of them and more. Why is it that gay men have to do more, be better just to be part of society.

Two years his colleagues tortured, abused, and assaulted him. Not a word did he speak for fear they would discharge him. Now what America, land of the free? What do you have to say for yourself.

Gay service people are in the Canadian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, German, French and English armed forces. They serve openly. They are valued team members. Why is it that the USA can not recognize gay people are just that PEOPLE.

You will find much more here at Youth Radio

Montreal Simon says

2 comments:

scott said...

"America.. what do you expect. He's better off without the army anyway."

Anonymous said...

When homosexuals murder heterosexuals in Canada they never spend any time in prison. Even the fact of homosexuality of the murderer is never mentioned in Canadian press. The fact that homosexual mentioned below lured his victim to his own apartment in the middle of the night with the promise of free drugs and intent to sodomize his victim is barely even mentioned. The fact that the victim tried to escape, and the fact that homosexual killer choked him to death, in the stairwell of apartment building, in order to avoid getting reported to police, identified and charged with sexual assault, got converted by homosexual reporter working for the Toronto Star into heroic attempt to make citizens arrest of crazed drug addicted robber that ended in accidental death, and I swear that I am not making it all up.

See:

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/299599

Nurse avoids jail in killing

Feb 01, 2008 12:38 PM

Peter Small
Courts Bureau

A male nurse who made a citizen’s arrest by grabbing a cocaine-intoxicated robber by the neck, unintentionally causing his death has been given a suspended sentence.

Provincial court Justice William Wolski gave Norman English an 18-month suspended sentence Thursday after he pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm. The judge said it was ironic that someone who has dedicated much of his career to preserving life would be involved in taking one.

The court found that English used excessive force in a reckless manner.

The 47-year-old nurse, who works with a transplant team at a major Toronto teaching hospital, was originally charged with manslaughter in the death of Stephen MacEachern, but the court accepted his guilty plea to assault causing bodily harm.

Outside court, defence lawyer Frank Gabriel said his client was very happy with the sentence. The judge was “terrifically fair,” Gabriel said. English declined comment.

But MacEachern’s spouse, Debbie, who asked that her last name not be used, said the sentence is not fair, considering a life was lost.

In the early hours of Sept. 22, 2006, English met MacEachern, 45, at a downtown Toronto bar and the two went to his apartment near Yonge and Carlton Sts. After they arrived, MacEachern shoved English to the ground and stole his wallet, court heard.

English gave chase and caught MacEachern in the building’s stairwell. As they struggled, he used his arm to grip MacEachern by the neck, while shouting for police. When English got off the man, he noticed he wasn’t moving. Building security officers arrived and used CPR to try to revive MacEachern.

Unknown to English, the man was very high on cocaine and died on the scene. The cause of death was pressure exerted on the neck of a person with acute cocaine addiction.

The judge said English was reckless in the way he went about retrieving his wallet, but he did not know MacEachern was acutely intoxicated. “I am satisfied that Mr. English should be punished but I am also satisfied that he is a person unlikely to reoffend.”

English has expressed great remorse, the judge said.

During the 18 months, English must take counselling, do 35 hours of community service, and consume no alcohol or controlled drugs.

Although English had assault and drunk driving convictions nearly two decades old, he is now “a contributing member of society,” Wolski said.