Gay FBI Agent Dismissed Unfairly, His Lawyer Says

A veteran San Diego FBI agent who feared the agency would fire him because he is a homosexual was dismissed Wednesday, his lawyer said.

Two of the agent’s supervisors appeared unannounced at his home Wednesday morning and read a brief order from FBI headquarters in Washington saying he was fired effective immediately, attorney Richard Gayer said.

“He was shocked, very upset,” Gayer said. “He didn’t think they would be gross enough to fire him before the hearing.”

FBI officials in San Diego and Washington could not be reached for comment.

The FBI placed the agent on administrative leave in September and revoked his security clearance May 29 without explanation. He filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco June 8 seeking to stop the government from firing him because he is a homosexual.

The agent, 45, who handled numerous counterespionage, terrorism and other sensitive cases, is identified only as John Doe in the lawsuit because he works under cover and would need his security clearance if he regains his job, Gayer said.

Gayer, of San Francisco, said the firing will strengthen the agent’s case when it reaches court.

“This firing is going to help us. It makes the FBI look cruel and callous to fire him before the hearing,” Gayer said. “It’s obvious from their approach that they intend to fight tooth and nail on this. Now we have something really tangible to fight.”

According to the bureau’s hiring policy, the agency reviews all information in an applicant’s background, including sexual conduct, but does not discriminate based on sexual preference.

“They (the FBI) say they review each situation on a case-by-case basis, but that does not mean they don’t discriminate,” Gayer said. “They gave no explanation why (the agent’s) security clearance was revoked or why he was fired. Just that, suddenly, they don’t trust him any more.”

The agent’s suit alleges that the FBI regularly discriminates against gays, Gayer said.

After the bureau learned in 1988 that the agent was gay, he acknowledged his homosexuality and provided extensive details about his sex life to eliminate concern that he might be blackmailed or exploited, Gayer said. He said the agent did not know he was gay until after he joined the bureau at 24.

The suit, scheduled to be heard June 29, sought a preliminary injunction to prevent the bureau from firing the agent until the court could receive all evidence. No court date has been set.

The agent’s San Diego supervisors and colleagues, with whom he has worked for 17 years, continue to trust and respect him, Gayer said.

“What Washington is saying is, ‘We don’t trust you because you’re gay,’ ” Gayer said. “It’s significant that everyone he worked with supports him. But there are two or three people in Washington who have never met him or spoken to him, and they are the ones with the power to revoke his security clearance.”

Revocation of the agent’s security clearance was tantamount to firing him because he could not do his job without it, Gayer said.

The agent has 30 days to appeal his termination, but because he was not given written notice, he cannot even collect unemployment benefits, Gayer said.

Gayer also said the agent is five years away from qualifying for a full government pension and will lose that pension unless he regains his job within one year.

The agent has received numerous commendations for his work on many high-level cases, including narcotics enforcement, counterintelligence and terrorism investigations, Gayer said.

The agent was assigned to work on the investigation of the March, 1989, bombing of the van driven by Sharon Rogers, wife of the captain of the Navy warship Vincennes. That assignment was made after FBI officials knew he was gay, Gayer said.