Maj. Alan Rogers worked for the D.C. chapter of the American Veterans for Equal Rights, a group that seeks to change military policy toward gays. He died in Iraq on Jan. 27. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army)
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CHRIS JOHNSON
Friday, March 28, 2008
The death of a gay soldier in Iraq is drawing renewed attention to how the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy — and the mainstream media — help ensure that gays stay in the closet, even in death.
Maj. Alan Rogers, 40, a gay intelligence officer who served on a military transition team that trained Iraqi soldiers, died Jan. 27 in Baghdad from wounds caused by an improvised explosive device that detonated near him while he was conducting a patrol on his Humvee. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on March 14.
For sacrificing his life in the line of duty, the Army posthumously awarded Rogers a Purple Heart and a second Bronze Star.
Tony Smith, a friend of Rogers’, described him as “very positive” and “very outgoing.” Smith and Rogers worked together in the D.C. chapter of American Veterans for Equal Rights, a group that works to change military policy toward gays. Rogers was out to friends in the Washington area, but “had to obviously be careful [about being out] to too many people because he was active duty military,” Smith said.
Rogers, a D.C. resident since about 2004, entered the Army in 1990 and served in the first Persian Gulf War and was on a second tour of duty in Iraq when he died.
Mainstream media coverage of Rogers’ death coincided with the grim milestone of 4,000 U.S. service members killed in Iraq and the five-year anniversary of the invasion. But the media reports about Rogers’ death omitted any mention of his sexual orientation. The Washington Post, National Public Radio and the Gainesville Sun, the local newspaper in his hometown of Hampton, Fla., made no mention of his sexual orientation or his involvement with a group that works to overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Lynn Medford, Metro editor for the Post, said the newspaper debated whether or not to disclose Rogers’ sexual orientation and ultimately decided not to include such information as a matter of ethics. Rogers to some degree “kept his orientation private” and outing him after his death would “take a decision out of his hands,” she said. Rogers had no partner and no immediate family to consult with to determine what his wishes would be, Medford noted.
“We had no way of knowing what his wishes were, and that’s what we came down and decided on,” she said.
Deborah Howell, ombudsman for the Washington Post, reiterated that Post editors decided there was no proof Rogers was gay and no evidence Rogers would want to be publicly known as gay after death. The Post has a policy of not mentioning a person’s sexual orientation unless it is germane to the story, she said.
“They just felt it was a matter of privacy and they neither knew his wishes nor felt comfortable with [discussing his sexual orientation],” she said.
Karen Voyles, who wrote articles on Rogers for the Gainesville Sun, said she did not include information about Rogers’ sexual orientation because she found no evidence that Rogers was gay.
“It just never came up,” she said. “We covered this as a casualty of the war, and that wasn’t something that anybody addressed.”
Steve Inskeep, who covered Rogers’ funeral for National Public Radio, did not return calls seeking comment.
Smith said he thinks it’s very important for Rogers’ “whole story to get out,” including information that he was gay.
“It’s something I know that Alan would want,” he said. “I don’t know why they decided to leave the story out that he was gay, but … it saddens me as a gay veteran myself. It saddens me that part of his life … can’t be told.”
Both of Rogers’ adoptive parents are deceased and he was the only child in the family. His closest living relative is his cousin, Cathy Long, who lives in Florida, sources said. An intermediary said Long did not want to comment for this article.
Donna St. George, a Post staff writer who wrote about Rogers’ funeral, said she received an e-mail from an Army casualty officer stating that the deceased’s family was “nervous” about how Rogers was going to be portrayed in the Post article. The casualty officer did not mention the word “gay” or the phrase “sexual orientation” in the e-mail, St. George said. A decision had already been made about how the Post would handle Rogers’ sexual orientation by the time the e-mail was received, although the article was not yet published, she said.
Shari Lawrence, spokesperson for Army human resources, did not return calls seeking comment.
Galen Grant, a retired Army captain and psychologist at a Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in South Carolina, said that although the military “is proud to flaunt [Rogers] as one of the soldiers, they want it kept secret that he was gay.”
Rogers intended to stay in the Army until he retired, Grant said.
Rogers’ friends say that he was devoted both to his duties as a soldier and efforts to change military policy. For a time starting in October 2004, Rogers served as treasurer of the D.C. chapter of American Veterans for Equal Rights.
Smith said Rogers was “very active in the group” and involved in social events and community outreach projects.
“Whenever he came into a room, his presence … immediately lifted the environment and the spirits of everyone,” Smith said.
Smith said Rogers was “someone who loved being in the Army.”
“He was a soldier before anything else,” he said. “He loved serving his country.”
Smith said he received an e-mail from Rogers Jan. 26 — the day before he died.
Rogers recalled some good times he had with D.C. friends and asked about other friends who were serving overseas, Smith said.
More than 100 mourners attended Rogers’ funeral and were a “mix of people from all over the world,” Smith said.
Patrick High, another Rogers friend and a gay former Army medical service officer, said Rogers was a “caring soul” and “selfless in everything that he did.”
Alan Rogers (left) with his friend Patrick High who called Rogers a ‘caring soul’ and ‘selfless in everything he did.’ (Photo courtesy of Patrick High) |
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High said he and Rogers communicated while Rogers was in Iraq. Rogers was more interested in learning about High’s work instead of talking about his own duties.
“He was just asking me more about my research and my getting a job … as opposed to anything that he was doing in Iraq,” High said.
Rogers and High would often go to Nation, a gay club in D.C., when it was still around, High said.
The recently deceased officer was out to some troops who served alongside him, High said.
In 2005, Rogers earned his master’s degree in policy management at Georgetown University. The Army officer also earned a bachelor’s degree in theology from University of Florida.
Mark Nadel, a visiting George-town professor who was Rogers’ thesis adviser, said Rogers was an excellent student and a knowledgeable participant in class.
Rogers’ thesis examined how the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy affected recruitment and retention for military officers. Rogers received an “A” for his work.
Grant said Rogers was bright, intelligent and “a good-looking guy, too.”
“He wasn’t like real charismatic and stuff like that, but people were drawn to him because he was just a great guy,” she said. “Everyone wants to have at least one friend like him because he’s the guy you can always count on.”
Grant was president of the D.C. chapter of the American Veterans for Equal Rights while Rogers was treasurer. Grant said the organization trusted him with its money, but she “would have trusted him with [her] life at any time.”
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