2006-08-01 - 5:21 p.m.

More Likely for Having a Name Like "Bleu"

Seriously, I understand that things will never change if people from within don't fight to earn a place at the table, but I can't imagine expending the energy to try to make a career in a place that so obviously doesn't want you. I know how defeatist that sounds, but f*ck, life is short...

Army Dismisses Gay Arabic Linguist
By DUNCAN MANSFIELD, Associated Press Writer

(AP) - JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.-A decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was dismissed from the U.S. Army under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, though he says he never told his superiors he was gay and his accuser was never identified.

Bleu Copas, 30, told The Associated Press he is gay, but said he was "outed" by a stream of anonymous e-mails to his superiors in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C.
...
More than 11,000 service members have been dismissed under the policy, including 726 last year - an 11 percent jump from 2004 and the first increase since 2001.

That's less than a half-percent of the more than 2 million soldiers, sailors and Marines dismissed for all reasons since 1993, according to the General Accountability Office.

But the GAO also noted that nearly 800 dismissed gay or lesbian service members had critical abilities, including 300 with important language skills. Fifty-five were proficient in Arabic, including Copas, a graduate of the Defense Language Institute in California.