Living Out Loud with Darian

A report on news that broke over the weekend of Air Force Sergeant Jene Newsome who has been honorably discharged after an Iowa marriage license was allegedly spotted on the kitchen table of her Rapid City, South Dakota home by police.


KOTA News reports:


Last November, police went to Jene' Newsome's Rapid City home to serve an out-of-state warrant on Cheryl Hutson, who lived at the same house.


When police couldn't find Hutson they called Newsome at Ellsworth Air Force Base for help. "I got several phone calls from an officer asking me to come home," Newsome said.


After delaying for several hours Newsome finally arrived home to find the police and Hutson inside. Since Newsome wasn't wanted for anything, you would think her involvement was over. "Other than them trying to get me to help them out, I wasn't involved at all," she said.


But police noticed an Iowa marriage certificate showing that the two women were married. Despite the fact that the marriage had nothing to do with the arrest, Officer Jeremy Stauffacher and Detective Tom Garinger sent that information to the Ellsworth AFB Office of Special Investigations.


This prompted the military to discharge Newsome for violating the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on gays in the military.

Newsome believes that the police did this as payback because she didn't help them arrest her wife. "He (a police officer) informed me that he saw a marriage certificate on the kitchen table and he said he knew how the military worked and he'd let OSI handle it," Newsome explained.


According to Census data "black women with same-sex partners serve in the military at 11 times the rate of women overall." The Department of Defense reports black lesbians are discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" at three times the rate that they serve", notes blogger Rod McCullom of Rod 2.0.


Newsome and the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a complaint against the western South Dakota police department, claiming the officers violated her privacy when they informed the military about her sexual orientation.


Watch a video report below:





Thanks Cedric