From Steve Benen at Political Animal:
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported this week on the suspected murder of Navy Seaman August Provost, who was found dead in a Camp Pendleton guard shack on Wednesday. Initial reports indicated that Provost had complained to his family about someone “harassing and bothering” him, but the 29-year-old sailor was reportedly reluctant to talk to his superiors about this because of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Provost’s murder is a horrible story, and a serious investigation is needed and, apparently, happening.
Steve goes on, though, to detail a story of AmericaBlogReality, showing once again that John Aravosis stubbornly refuses to let facts get in the way of his narrative that Obama hates the gays. Go check it out.
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Chris Geidner is the award-winning senior political editor at D.C.'s Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, The American Prospect, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications, as well as at his blog, Law Dork. In 2011, he received the Excellence in News Writing Award from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his coverage of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal. Prior to moving to D.C. in 2009, he served as an attorney on the senior staff at the Ohio Attorney General's Office and had earlier worked for a leading Columbus law firm. An extended biography can be found
The comments are even more interesting, because while Steve never mentions Aravosis, his readers knew JUST what he was referring to. And there has yet to be a pro-Aravosis comment.
Right, I’d missed the link — and I was the one who directed him in that direction, btw.
Almost as soon as the crime was reported, their were some elements that immediately tried to politicize the crime. Rep. Bob Filner began to note that he was on the base when the murder was discovered and found it “odd” he wasn’t told. I love Americablog’s headline that the murder is “increasingly looking suspicious.” Well fuck me, imagine a murder being suspicious.
It is prudent for LGBT community leaders to voice concern while expecting the Navy to conclude their investigation before banging the war drum. It is just as prudent fro the Navy to do as they have done and not make any rash conclusions.
For Avarosis to draw the conclusion that this murder occurred on Obama’s watch in such ominous tones, seems to ignore the fact that many such crimes take place within the military, such as the rash of murders in the Fort Benning area.
While DADT certainly might have allowed Seaman Provost to come forward to file an official complaint, make no mistake about it, IF this is a hate crime based on his sexual orientation, an official complaint would not have changed this anymore than official policy against sexual assault protects women in the military from such crimes.
I for one would reserve judgment until all the facts are in.
He does link to Aravosis’s post, so I think it’s not very ambiguous.