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Questions Surrounding a Lesbian Soldier’s Death

Today's New York Times has the story of Army Sergeant Denise A. Lannaman, a native of Kingston, Jamaica who joined the U.S. Army and, by at least one account, became a stellar service member who, in the end, may have also been the victim of a blackmail campaign aimed at exposing her sexual orientation and drumming her out of the armed forces. A veteran of the war in Iraq, Lannaman (pictured) was most recently assigned to a desk job at a procurement office in Kuwait. She carried out her duties there with "superb performance," according to one superior, and her steadfastness "eliminated misuse of [military] funds by 36 percent." But some evidence also points to the possibility that another soldier - more intent on laundering money than saving it - may have tried to use Lannaman's sexual orientation as a way to blackmail her into silence. From the Times: "Sergeant Lannaman originally had been scheduled to leave her Kuwait assignment on Aug. 27, 2006. But 10 days earlier, the top logistics officer, Lt. Col. Marshall Gutierrez, was arrested outside a restaurant in Kuwait. He was accused of shaking down a laundry contractor for a $3,400 bribe. After his arrest, Colonel Gutierrez was released to his quarters. He was found dead on Sept. 4, next to an empty bottle of prescription sleeping pills and an open container of what appeared to be antifreeze, according to military records." Then the story becomes seemingly more complicated. "On Oct. 1, [Lannaman] had a private meeting with a superior officer, said George Roach, a retired Army sergeant first class who served as the military liaison with the family," the story reports. "A military investigator later told the family that at this meeting, Sergeant Lannaman was told that she would be sent home in disgrace, according to Lannaman's sister. "We were not given a reason," the sister said. “Were they trying to scare her, had she stepped on toes of people who were profiteering, did someone threaten to expose her homosexuality?” she asked. There don't seem to be any clear answers. Did Gutierrez use the threat of an 'outing' to scare Lannaman into silence? Was her guilt over not holding Gutierrez responsible for his theft the reason behind her suicide? Was Lannaman the latest example of the untenable position LGBT service members are put in because of the ban on their service? No one seems to know for sure. "An Army spokesman, Lt. Col. William Wiggins, said yesterday that Sergeant Lannaman had not been teh subject of any contract investigations, and that he could not say whether she had been threatened with dismissal from the service," the Times reports. Indeed, it doesn't appear that the full set of facts in Sergeant Lannaman's case have surfaced yet. Stay tuned here at Frontlines for more information. SLDN will continue to monitor the case and try to find out more about what led to Lannaman's death. - Steve Ralls

Labels: in the news

09-20-07