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Topic: News on Reichen (Read 342 times)

Genius
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News on Reichen
« on: Oct 26^th, 2006, 8:41pm »

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'I Was Raped' Says Reichen
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(New York City) Reichen Lehmkuhl has revealed for the first time that he was sexually assaulted by two fellow cadets while he was at the Air Force Academy in the early 1990s.

In a weekend interview with ABC News, Lehmkuhl said that homophobia was common at the Academy and little was done to combat it. He also said that while he felt forced to remain closeted because of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" a friend outed him.

He told the network that he felt he had no one to turn to to discuss his sexuality and felt abandoned by the military. His sense of alienation escalated until one night when he was sexually assaulted by the people he served beside everyday.

"A bag was put over my head," he said. "I was stripped of my clothes. I was forced to do things sexually with two other male cadets," he told "Good Morning America".

"I think it's the first time that I've said that that happened," he said. "I've been ashamed of it."

Lehmkuhl said that he did not report the assault because he did not want to come out publicly. He said that the assault and the pressure of being gay in the military drove him to the brink of suicide.

"That's when you start having suicidal thoughts, and that's when you start saying, 'Oh my God. I am so stuck in this situation. I can't go to anyone,' " he said.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network said that the sexual assault on Lehmkuhl is a reminder of why the Pentagon needs to take anti-gay harassment seriously.

"The Pentagon has an anti-harassment plan that was approved at the end of the Clinton administration but has never been properly implemented under President Bush's leadership," SLDN spokesperson Steve Ralls told 365Gay.com.

"It's a good plan but the Pentagon's refusal to implement it results in incidents like the one Reichen recounted."

The anti-harassment policy was created following the murder of Pfc Barry Winchell at Fort Campbell, Kentucky in 1999.

The interview coincided with the release of Lehmkuhl's autobiography "Here's What We'll Say: Growing Up, Coming Out, and the U.S. Air Force Academy".

Lehmkuhl said he hopes his story will help other gays in the military and help the effort to repeal DADT.

A bipartisan attempt to repeal the law died when Congress adjourned last month.

The Republican leadership refused to schedule the bill, authored by Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Massachusetts), and blocked attempts to move the legislation forward.

Meehan has promised to re-introduce the measure in the next session. Currently the repeal bill has 118 co-sponsors.

Since the passage of DADT a decade ago more than 11,000 men and women have been dismissed under "Dont Ask, Dont Tell" according to the Government Accountability Office. More than 800 of those service members were trained in skills deemed mission-critical by the Pentagon.

The GAO also said that it has cost taxpayers more than $200 million to recruit replacements for LGBT enlisted service members who were discharged. (story)

A study conducted last year for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network concluded that the U.S. military could attract as many as 41,000 new recruits if gays and lesbians in the military were able to be open about their sexual orientation.

After leaving the Air Force Lehmkuhl won $1 million in season four of the reality adventure show, "The Amazing Race." He currently works as a model and actor and is in a relationship with former pop star, Lance Bass, who come out in July.

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Genius
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Re: News on Reichen
« Reply #1 on: Oct 26^th, 2006, 8:41pm »

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Lance Bass' boyfriend target of threats

Updated Thu. Oct. 26 2006 9:34 AM ET

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Lance Bass' boyfriend, Reichen Lehmkuhl, says he and the former `N Sync star have been dealing with threats ignited by his new memoir about the trials of being gay while serving in the military.

"We have to be very protective," Lehmkuhl tells the TV show "Inside Edition" in an interview that was to air Wednesday.

"I am not going to hide," says the former Air Force captain and winner of season four of CBS' "Amazing Race." "There are threats that come in from people who do not want me to be so public and expose what is going on in the military."

Lehmkuhl, 32, says that he and Bass, who revealed he is gay in July, forward the threats to private security personnel who send what they consider the more serious ones to the FBI. "Everything is being covered so we feel safe," he said.

Lehmkuhl's book, "Here's What We'll Say: Growing Up, Coming Out, and the U.S. Air Force Academy," recounts his time keeping his sexual orientation a secret from Air Force colleagues.

"There was definitely an institutionalized acceptance of people being homophobic and telling gay jokes and making homophobic remarks -- really, really mean homophobic remarks to the point of, `Kill gay people,'" Lehmkuhl, who was honorably discharged from the Air Force five years ago, told ABC News earlier this week.

He became a target when people began to suspect his sexuality, he says. One night, he told ABC News, a bag was pulled over his head and he was sexually assaulted. He didn't report the incident.

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Alexander
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Re: News on Reichen
« Reply #2 on: Oct 26^th, 2006, 9:11pm »

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ouch... thats hard stuff, luckily he finally got it out of his chest, I hate when people persue people for being different, it just really sucks...
Well Good luck to Reichen on the future!

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Heather
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Re: News on Reichen
« Reply #3 on: Oct 26^th, 2006, 9:24pm »

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That's terrible that something like that could happen and that he had to keep that hidden for so long....

some people in this country are really messed up. Sad