Mother of Slain Sailor Calls for an End to Harassment
The mother of a Navy radioman allegedly killed because of his homosexuality urged officials Sunday to stop harassment of gays in the military and turn over her son’s case to independent prosecutors.
Seaman Allen Schindler, 22, of San Diego was beaten to death Oct. 27 in a public restroom near the Sasebo Naval Base in Japan, the home port of the Belleau Wood. Schindler, who was stationed on the ship, was awaiting an administrative discharge after declaring his homosexuality.
His mother, Dorothy Hajdys, 46, of Chicago Heights, Ill., joined several other parents and a sailor from the Belleau Wood in calling on the Navy to stop what they say is routine harassment of homosexual sailors.
“I don’t want any homosexual in the military to end up like my son did,” she said at a news conference outside the War Memorial Veterans Building.
She asked that the case be “taken out of the hands of the military” and placed in the judicial system. Tim Rump of the Bay Area Military Freedom Project urged the U.S. attorney general to name a special prosecutor.
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