Gays In The Military. Vincent Cianni
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pay. I just changed uniforms. I was a radar man working for Vessel Traffic Services [VTS]. Then I met my partner. At the time he was fifty. He was HIV positive and had been since the ’80s. He started having difficulties and I was having a hard time at work, because I was taking a lot of time off trying to be there for him.
I started getting counseled for it and was put on probation for six months. When I left VTS, I figured this would be my last tour before I retire. We didn’t have a ship, so we were sent to Coast Guard Island in Alameda until the ship was ready for delivery. By that time, I had made chief in the Coast Guard. When I went to my new command, they were aware of my situation. It continued because my partner was getting worse. I was trying to come up with excuses so I could get time off to see him.
The command decided to do a urine analysis for everybody. I was called into our XO’s [executive officer’s] office and was presented with the result saying that mine [tested] positive with cocaine. I don’t do any drugs; only thing I do is drink alcohol. “You’re under investigation. Here’s the number for legal in San Diego.” I got a legal representative and came out to them. “Here’s the whole story. I’m gay; I’m being targeted. I have a partner and I handle his meds. He’s on morphine patches.” They explained to me, “It’s not like you had a huge amount in your system, only 276 nanograms. They allow 100.”
They took me out from my command. Nobody could talk to me until the court martial. They sent me to work for three senior chiefs and they treated me like I was in boot camp. I did everything that they wanted. After three months doing all the shitty jobs and digging trenches, I was working with other kids in trouble counseling them.
Before the trial started, my attorneys gave me a request for a Bad Conduct Discharge [BCD] to get an automatic appeal because the Coast Guard is the only [branch] that, even though you can be found not guilty, they can put you through administrative discharge process immediately. The verdict came back guilty and [my lawyer] said, “I think we’d better submit the BCD.” So I fill it out and she went in the judge’s chambers with the prosecution. The judge came out; he was shocked that I submitted this. I was reduced to E-2 and that was the last day I was on Coast Guard Island.
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