On those “special rights”
Flagwaver and Ben send us a link to an article about a a military court which has found that Marine Sgt. Matthew W. Simmons, a baritone horn player in the Washington DIstrict, was found suitable for continued military service even though he appeared in a gay porn movie in his Marine uniform.
In some of the clips, he was shown wearing his Marine dress blue coat, complete with decorations and rank insignia; others showed him wearing a Marine physical training jacket. At one point he mentioned on-camera that he was a Marine, and still shots from the videos were used for online advertising, McClatchy reported.
[…]
He pleaded guilty to charges of misusing his uniform, but in its ruling the court set aside part of those convictions: Because Simmons never wore the complete uniform, there was no “visual evidence” for the general public of his government authority, and even though he identified himself as a Marine, he didn’t say they supported his behavior.
Now, lets’ look at the story of Michelle Manhart, an Air Force staff sergeant who posed nude for Playboy magazine in 2007;
Senior Airman Michelle Manhart (born 1976) is a former United States Air Force Military Training Instructor based at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, holding the rank of Staff Sergeant. In January 2007 she was relieved of duty and placed under investigation for posing nude in Playboy magazine.She has since been demoted to Senior Airman, a move which caused her to resign from the Air Force.
Manhart should have participated in gay sex and maybe she would have been excused for appearing nude.
Category: Military issues
Fair enough. As I said earlier, I think some form of prosecution was certainly warranted within the current scope of our legal system. I disagree with the conclusion of what the average person could come away with, but agree with your determination on the accessibility of military status based on the two examples.
Over 50 comments and not one about his being a horn player. Really?
Actually, #20… I brought up his blowing his horn.
All of this arguing is pointless ,though. There is still documented video evidence of the Sodomy charge. Unless, of course, he didn’t know he was being filmed.
The problem, Flagwaver, is that sodomy laws are not enforced when the sodomozing is between consenting adults. The acceptance by society of open homosexuality and the enforcement of sodomy laws don’t mix. Such laws have not been enforced for years by civilian authority and now, clearly, the military is on board.
@54- Sodomy laws are rather nonsensical to begin with. I realize the state use to think it had a compelling interest in what sex acts two consenting adults engaged in, but that ship has sailed long ago in regards to logic.
CI, they may be nonsensical, but they are still the law. If people don’t like them, they can’t just break them. They actually have to get them changed through the legal process.
It’s like horse theft in Texas. You can still be hung without trial by the person you are stealing a horse from. And that person is clearly empowered by the government to do so.
In Massachusetts, you can still be tried and sentenced to hanging for practicing witchcraft in the state. In Oregon, you can shoot someone dead if you catch them in your house without an invite and not be charged as long as they die in your house. I know a guy who popped his daughter’s boyfriend by accident thinking he was sexually assaulting the girl. The man wounded the boy and would have faced life in prison, but he then shot the boy in the head and got off.
So, would you break a law that you don’t agree with? Or, would you rather find a legal way to change it?
…sodomy and sailing ships mentioned in the same post. Coincidence?
@56 – “they may be nonsensical, but they are still the law. If people don’t like them, they can’t just break them. They actually have to get them changed through the legal process.”
I agree 100%; and didn’t imply otherwise. If you get caught violating standing law or regulation, you should expect to pay the price.
Though since sodomy isn’t restricted to homosexual sex acts, I’ve broken the law on countless occasions. As I’m sure the majority of my peers have.
However, you were not prosecuted on it because it was never taken to JAG/CID/etc. This occasion, it was and there is a video of it.
@59 – “This occasion, it was and there is a video of it.”
I’m pretty sure I haven’t been disagreeing with that.
#57 Claymore: coincidence? Best to ask Sparky and Zero.
It seems a sad state of affairs that any ruling like this, which has certain political correctness overtones is not in fact argued about the merits, and the actual laws/regs regarding this case. If anyone cares to read regs about wearing a uniform it is pretty clear what you CAN’T do.
The fact that he was in a porno, to say nothing of a gay porn (before DADT repeal, so it is technically and would actually remain a violation of the stated policy), is in fact not “good order and discipline”. I don’t care if the TI (who looks pretty good actually) was the best damn TI they ever had, as an NCO she compromised herself. What would be said if a troop under her command saw those pictures. Would ANY order given be taken seriously?
There was an LT in 4/10th Mountain that had appeared in one of those “modeling” interview which turns into a porn. Well intrepid medics in her command had found this porno, and shared it with the overly bored medics in my command, and the one they were replacing (2/2), she was never taking seriously and you could often hear “you got it in my eye” whenever she was around, from one troop or another, usually never to this LT. Is it wrong? Absolutely and the NCOs should have quashed it, but the fact remains her word is (or should have been) law, and it was not taken seriously.
It doesn’t matter the MOS or even the rank the principle remains the same. It is perhaps even more galling that the retard actually used his uniform as part of his “costume”. I don’t care if the was the catcher or the pitcher, or if they were swordfighting crossing streams or doing the rusty trombone, he fucked up. Big time. The convening authority that let him off fucked up even more.
So not gonna go there, Dave…too easy. Kinda like kicking OG when she’s down…but that’s a little more fun.
This one is for Flagwaver…. For you to say that Marine only got a slap on the wrist is utter bullshit… maybe if you did your research before running your mouth, you would know that he was sentenced to the brig for 3 months with no pay, dishonerably discharged and fined $10,000. Now if that is a slap on the wrist, I would hate to see what real punishment is according to you.
Hey anonymous. Flagwaver asked me to give you this o. You need it to spell “honerably” correctly.
Annon, key word is WAS sentenced. He gets a significantly reduced sentence now, Military Justice may be harsh, but it is most often more fair than civilian law (too many damn loopholes)
[…] upholds conviction of gay porn star Marine March 2nd, 2012 We first discussed Matthew W. Simmons last Fall when a military appeals court said that his conviction for wearing remnants of his uniform in a gay […]