The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, July 28, 1993, Page 3, Image 3
Gay ROTC
By KEVIN MENKEN
Staff Writer
A year ago, Army ROTC James
^ "Jay" Belangia turned his uniform
in at the end of his freshman vear at
USC because he said he wasn't sure
he was going to enroll again in the
program.
At the end of spring semester this
year, Belangia received a letter
from ROTC property book officer
Guy Northup demanding the return
of his uniform and equipment or
face the possibility of arrest.
? While it's customary, according
to Northup, for unit members to
return their uniforms at the end of
every school year or they will
VP O c i rr* 11 U
a oniiiiai 1 ui
Belangia, the gay ROTC who came
out to the world last March, the
notification was just another nail in
the coffin of a long military association.
Belangia faced an Army ROTC
disenrollment board hearing in
June, and is waiting for the official
envelope in the mail that will determine
his future status.
^ He doesn't expect to read any
^ good news when it arrives.
It may be the end of a long trail
for decorated Army veteran
Belangia, who joined USC's ROTC
in January 1992, after marching
through an Army stint in Berlin and
a National Guard assignment in
Saudi Arabia during Operation
Desert Storm. Before that association,
he was a member of the
JROTC in high school.
But that road that brought him to
decorations became full of potholes
after coming to USC, and by the
* end of his third semester, he knew
~ that it was washed out.
What began as a typical semester
last fall for Belangia, a criminal justice
sophomore
who was going
through the process
of accepting "I sort C
his homosexuali- impreSSio
ty, quickly turn- r
ed into an aval- Cause tfl6 i
anche of inci- wasn't gOI
dents that seem- ^ey migll
ingly went out of J . P
the control and and pin it C
^ led him to the
^ fateful meeting J
with the disenrollment
board.
"In the fall, I
began receiving
anonymous letters threatening to
out me," he said.
The first note, according to
Belangia, was slipped under his
door at the residence hall a week
after school started. In a takeoff of
David Letterman's top ten listings,
it ranked the ten things Belangia
would lose, such as his scholarship
or "any chance of ever being able to
^ live a normal life in South Carolina
again," if he was "outed." The
unsigned note ended with "Payback
I cadet's 'ov
is hell."
The next letter was sent to
Belangia in October 1992, along
with pictures allegedly taken the
summer before showing him at
some gay bars. Belangia said there
"'oro cKrvtc rvf him in frnnt r\f Q Kor
W Ui W OUWIO V/l XIAll 1 All 11V/III VI U 1/til
in Columbia and in Charleston.
The letter, from someone identified
only as "ME," read that there
were other pictures besides the ones
sent to him and that Belangia
should "sweat a little" over who
else would eventually receive them.
A reference was also made to getting
revenge.
The third letter was sent to Greg
Rickabaugh, then editor of The
Gamecock, and the fourth was
allegedly sent to the Carolina
Spectator, a conservative newspaper,
both on Nov. 3. Although both
letters contained identical attacks on
Belangia, even down to copying
some of the same sentences, his
position in the university's
Residence Hall Association and epi
thets about his sexual orientation,
they also included references to
"proof' that Belangia frequented
gay bars in Columbia, Charleston
and AUanta.
At the time, he said the letters
upset him, although by November
he had taken some steps to come
out on his own to friends, and
sometimes wore on campus shirts or
buttons that were gay-supportive.
He said he bumed the pictures.
"I guess initially, I felt like 'why
me?' I had angry-type feelings," he
said, cut i was tortunate to nave a
lot of friends who really helped me
deal with the fact that this is who I
am."
Although two of the letters indicated
that "ME" was someone with
a personal vendetta against
Belangia, he
^^said he couldn't
figure out
)f got the who might hat-Kof
Kd ve sent them."
n that be- ,.If it was
Investigation someone from
ng anyhere, the say com,
i i munity, I wouit
go ahead ,d fee?, ,ike ,
)n me." was used," he
said. "If it was
ay Belangia not from the
ROTC cadet py community,
I would feel
more violated."
Belangia
said it was during the same period
when another cadet harassed him on
.1 TKn eoHet arrnrdino
LI1C I111C litllgc. 1111^ v.uuw, ? 0
to Belangia, made remarks of a sexual
nature to him.
In early November, he said he
found graffiti on the door of his "
room in Moore Hall. One of the
statements accused him of performing
certain sexual acts with two
other openly gay men in the building.
This was the evening, he said,
after he was instrumental in the pas
iting' raises
sage of a clause adding "sexual orientation"
to language governing the
20 residence halls on campus.
He said more graffiti was put on
his residence hall door and outside
mm
walls in early December.
At ahont thp camp limp hp cpnl fS:
an unsigned anonymous letter to
The Gamecock. He said there was
enough information in the letter
about his ROTC activities that
would have led people in the 65member
unit to be able to identify
who wrote it.
That same night, about 3 a.m.,
Belangia said he received a harassing
phone call. He said he thought it
was from a fellow ROTC cadet who
had hassled him previously.
University police reports confirmed
Belangia filed reports about
the letters, damage to his wall and
door, and a single incident of phone
harassment up to Dec. 11.
Photographs of the door were taken
bv the resDondina officer.
However, Belangia didn't report
the letters to police until Nov. 5,
over two months after receiving the
first one. University police records
also show reports of "vulgar" painted
statements on his door on Nov.
11, and again on Dec. 11.
Subsequently, a USC police investigation
was launched.
Eight months later, the case was
still open, according to university
police chief Lawrence Pathel,
because police have been unable to
gtiuitl CllUUgll cviucutc IU gU l\J UIC
solicitor and file charges.
"A typical investigative effort
will prove or disprove the complaint,"
he explained. "Certain circumstances
that might come up did
nothing to expedite our jobs."
Those circumstances included the
difficulty in locating the source of
the reported obscene call.
According to the police report, the
voice of the caller was male; the A
next spring, when Belangia reported to
a second phone call, the voice was m
female.
Belangia said he was slow in al
cooperating with the police when an se
investigator asked to examine a to
printout from his home computer as sf
pan or tneir routine check on possi- sc
ble sources of the letters. d<
"I sort of got the impression that n<
because the investigation wasn't lo
going anywhere, they might go
ahead and pin it on me," he said, pi
Belangia said his reasoning was R
based on his own background in hi
law enforcement. m
"We are fact-gatherers, not con- C;
viu^iun-givcis, ramei saiu, reier- til
ring to how the department routine- hi
ly conducted investigations. "That cl
responsibility goes to the solicitor- at
general." re
About the same week as the first C<
telephone call, Belangia said he tb
noticed changes in how he was
being treated at ROTC. When he he
went to take a makeup test in his he
puzzling <
The Road to the Dis?
August 31,1992 Note #1 slipp
October 1992 Letter #2 arrives
November 3,1992 Letters #3 &
Spectator; Spectator copy list n<
November 5,1992 Police invej
November 1992 Graffiti spray
December 11,1992 Second rep
incident
January 1993 ROTC places Be]
probation; Belangia stops attenc
February 1993 Belangia meets
Marrh 1QQ1 Rplanais rr?mpc r?
Carpenter and Pruitt; Belangia I
press; reports harassment; Mai
Halt Palms and Carpenter mee
April 1993 Lawrence Dark int?
Affirmative Action investigatioi
May 1993 Belangia placed on 1
board hearing
June 1993 Disenrollment boarc
charges against Belangia; Dark i
proceed with investigation
July 1993 Police investigation j
Action investigation begins
rmy zut class, ne saiu ine insiruc- t
r told him that he had changed his t
ind and he had to take a "0" on it. i
Although he was eventually
lowed to make the test up, he said t
:veral cadets told him the instruc- 1
r had "gone ballistic" and said he 1
lould be kicked out because of his <
;xual orientation. Belangia s
iclined to reveal the students' i
lmes because he said they were no (
nger attending USC. 1
On Jan. 14, 1993, Belangia was
laced on academic probation in 1
OTC because he failed a class in \
s general education sequence. In a ?
eeting with Lt. Col. Walter R. t
arpenter, commanding officer of r
e USC Army ROTC, concerning 1
s probation status Belangia c
aimed Carpenter spoke to him 1
>out an anonymous letter he i
reived "ontino" him He said 1
apt. Charles Roeder was present at 1
e meeting. t
Belangia said Carpenter told him 5
: received the "outing" letter, but
: didn't put any credence in it. 1
questions
mrollmeirt Hearing
ed under Belangia's dcx>r
in campus mail -
c i Lv/ vj?iiiucvA.iv anu
imes Palms and Belangia I
ligation begins
ed on Belangia's door
>ort of graffiti on door;
angia on academic
ding Physical Training
with Carpenter
it in a letter to Palms, ...
Dieaks his story to the
igia moves to Columbia
t
?rviews Belangia about
eave of absence until
I meets to investigate
ratifies Beiangia to
remains open; Affirmative
*
Carpenter said he never knew anyhing
about the letter. Roeder was
jnavailable for comment.
Although Beiangia said that in
he fall semester the only thing
*OTC had was "some anonymous
etters that the colonel had received
dleging that I was gay," there is
some uncertainty about how many,
f any, letters were received by
Carpenter's office and how
Belangia knew which letters he had.
The original letters Belangia said
le received in the fall semester
vere either sent direcdy to him or to
it least some people or organizaions
listed on the ones addressed to
rhe Gamecock and The Spectator.
Ihe only reference to the ROTC
lepartment was in the unpublished
etter to 1 he spectator, where Mb
lrged USC students "to call Dr.
ohn Palms, (then) Student Body
Resident Tom Young, the Head of
\rmy ROTC at USC and Dean of
Students Dennis Pruitt..."
See ROTC, page 4