Board Rejects Gay Pilot’s Request to Remain in Navy

An aviator’s plea to stay in the Navy after he challenged the military’s policy banning homosexuals was rejected Friday by an administrative board, which recommended his discharge.

After two hours of deliberations, the board of inquiry voted 3 to 0 to recommend an honorable discharge for Lt. (j.g.) Tracy Thorne, said the panel’s presiding officer, Capt. John A. Seddon Jr.

The board was not swayed by Thorne’s emotional testimony. He said he was just like them, someone “who wants to serve his country. But all you want to know is whether I’m a homosexual.”

Seddon provided no reason for the decision. But the government’s attorney, Lt. Julie L. Tinker, said the board’s job was to “follow the prescribed regulation” and call for Thorne’s discharge if he was found to be a homosexual.

The decision will be reviewed by Rear Adm. Paul W. Parcells, who heads the Navy’s Atlantic Fleet air forces, before it is sent to the Bureau of Naval Personnel.

The Defense Department’s ban on homosexuality argues that it is incompatible with military service because it undermines morale and discipline.

Thorne, 25, said he was disappointed but would continue to fight. His 15-minute statement to the board was the highlight of two days of proceedings, most of which was devoted to legal wrangling over whether the panel had authority to recommend that Acting Navy Secretary Sean O’Keefe keep Thorne in the service.

“I am not a sexual predator with some sort of hormonal imbalance,” Thorne told the three officers, who also are aviators. “I am just like you.”

Thorne said he did what an officer and a gentleman is supposed to do--tell the truth--when he went on ABC’s “Nightline” on May 19 and proclaimed his homosexuality.

He said the military’s longstanding ban on gays is based on ancient hatreds and misplaced fears. “These are stereotypes,” he said. “They’re groundless.”

Thorne’s father, Roscoe Thorne, also addressed the panel, saying he came to realize that America’s strength lies in the diversity of its people.

“I wish I could be as good a man as Tracy Thorne is,” said the elder Thorne, a surgeon in Lake Worth, Fla.