The Pentagon has honorably discharged a decorated Army sergeant, Robert Stout, who was awarded the Purple Heart for combat wounds received in Iraq, Gay City News reported.
Stout apparently is not being allowed to re-enlist because he is gay.
During his recuperation at an American medical facility in Germany this past April from his battlefield injury, Stout publicly disclosed his sexual orientation to the Associated Press, indicating his desire to continue to serve, but not willing to re-enlist because of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ ban.
‘I know a ton of gay men that would be more than willing to stay in the Army if they could just be open,’ Stout said in the news interview. ‘But if we have to stay here and hide our lives all the time, it’s just not worth it.’
Stout acknowledged being out to his platoon, a 26-man team that is part of the Ninth Engineer Battalion based in Schweinfurt, Germany. He recently informed Aaron Belkin, the director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California at Santa Barbara, that he had been discharged.
Nathaniel Frank, a research fellow at the organization, said Stout is the only openly gay soldier known to have suffered wounds in Iraq.