3 US Colonels Punished For Poking Fun At Gays

SEOUL - Three U.S. colonels have been reprimanded for performing a skit that officials believe sneered at homosexuals and the U.S. rules designed to protect gays in the military, South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted an official at the U.S. military in South Korea on Wednesday.

The administrative reprimands against the colonels were given by the Eighth U.S. Army commander, Lt. Gen. John D. Johnson, early this month, the official at the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said on the condition of anonymity, confirming an earlier report by the Army Times, a U.S. military newspaper.

According to the report, the three colonels performed the skit at a dinner on March 22 attended by top officials from the Eighth Army.

The colonels punished were Mark Elliott, commander of the 1st Signal Brigade; Brian Dunn, commander of the 35th Air Defence Artillery Brigade; and Joseph Cox, commander of the 501st Military Intelligence Brigade, it said.

They reportedly used effeminate gestures as they portrayed gay musicians Elton John and George Michael as soldiers. And then, they lip-synched to a song by Boy George, who is also a homosexual.

The skit came as the U.S. military transitions out of its long-standing policy to prohibit gay service members from serving openly, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

The Eighth Army had scheduled to hold a post-DADT training session for its brigade commanders the following day, the report said.

"They attempted to make light of the change we were making and the transition of Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Johnson was quoted as saying by the Army Times.

"They did it in a way that was offensive to some people and it didn't get their point across, and quite frankly, I think they embarrassed themselves in the process."

About 28,500 U.S. troops are based in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.

- BERNAMA