Gay Civilian Worker at Naval Station Denies Taking New Job

A gay civilian employee at the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station said Thursday that the Navy lied this week when it announced that he had accepted a job at the base, ending his self-imposed leave from the facility.

Thomas A. Swann, 35, of Port Hueneme said Thursday that he did not accept a job as a program analyst at the base’s comptroller’s office and that he and his American Civil Liberties Union attorneys are still negotiating a settlement with the Navy over his case.

“I did accept a call from one of their human resources department officers, but I did not in any way accept the job that they offered me,” Swann, a former Marine Corps sergeant and Navy reservist, said Thursday during a brief interview.

But according to Navy spokesman Alan Alpers, Swann was offered the analyst’s job Wednesday morning and told officials that he would return to the base next Tuesday.

“All I can tell you is that we offered Mr. Swann the job and that he told us that he would accept the position,” Alpers said. “We never said or implied that the case was settled or over. We just said that he accepted the job and we stand by that statement.”

Neither Swann, ACLU lawyer Alan Friel nor Alpers could explain Thursday why both sides had such widely varying opinions of Wednesday’s events.

Swann worked at the base for 12 years as a missile program analyst before he left his post last June, claiming he was being harassed and physically threatened because of his sexual orientation and because of his support for a repeal of a ban against gays in the military.