Come Out With Pride 2009 marketing director Mikael Frank Audebert extended an invitation to Joseph Rocha, a Navy veteran who was recently featured in the news for his 2-year long hazing and abuse by fellow officers. He will be in attendance on Friday October 9, 2009 at the official pride event Armed & Ready being held at TASTINGS downtown Orlando. Armed & Ready pays tribute to heroes, especially Gay veterans, in the Military. The event will be entertaining all while bringing awareness to the outdated and unjust "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policies of the U.S. government.
Joseph will then fly to Washington DC for the National Equality March and to promote the repeal of " Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policies.
Joseph's attendance is made possible thanks to the generosity of RE/MAX Town Center and Charlie Orden.
More information on Pride weekend official events: http://www.comeoutwithpride.org
Excerpt from an AP bulletin:
Joseph Rocha, now 23, decided to leave the Navy in 2007 by telling his commander he was gay, in violation of the military’s "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy. He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder from the constant hazing while he served with military dog handlers based in Bahrain to support the Iraq war.
An internal Navy investigation into his unit found dozens of examples of hazing and sexual harassment against multiple sailors between 2005 and 2006. The result of the investigation was not clear; a copy of the report released under the Freedom of Information Act has all recommendations blacked out.
Joseph Rocha, now 23, decided to leave the Navy in 2007 by telling his commander he was gay, in violation of the military’s "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy. He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder from the constant hazing while he served with military dog handlers based in Bahrain to support the Iraq war.
An internal Navy investigation into his unit found dozens of examples of hazing and sexual harassment against multiple sailors between 2005 and 2006. The result of the investigation was not clear; a copy of the report released under the Freedom of Information Act has all recommendations blacked out...
...Rocha said he enlisted in the Navy in 2004 to demonstrate his commitment to earning an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy after he wasn’t admitted to the school.
In June 2007, he was accepted at the academy prep school in Newport, R.I., where candidates can build the academic skills they need to be accepted to the four-year academy. While there, Rocha said depression resulting from his experience in Bahrain made him decide to tell school officials he was gay. He was isolated from other students for two months, then honorably discharged in October 2007.
"I was faced with the idea of being in a navy that condoned this for another decade," Rocha said. "I wouldn’t have allowed myself to live like that anymore."
A letter from Rocha’s doctor at the Department of Veterans Affairs in San Francisco confirms that he has been diagnosed with PTSD.
Rocha, now a student at the University of San Diego, hopes he can one day return to serve openly in the military as a Marine Corps officer.
"I’m just waiting for the policy to be repealed," Rocha said.
