Darkside Rainbow

You know and I both know what people love to say about those Navy boys (and I do so love a man in uniform). Months out at sea with hardly a woman in sight? It’d take a lot more than military discipline to stop a few antics that would make a night in Vegas seem tame, and no doubt hundreds of Navy men have been guilty of uttering “I’m not gay, I was just…” …well. You fill in the blanks there, Jolly Roger. “What happens at sea stays at sea,” indeed.

Only this time, it didn’t.

Navy Doctor’s Sex Tape Trial Begins - Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Navy doctor accused of secretly videotaping Naval Academy midshipmen engaged in sexual acts committed a “flagrant violation of trust,” military prosecutors said Monday as the doctor’s court martial began.

Cmdr. Kevin J. Ronan is accused of using a video camera hidden in an air purifier in his home to tape midshipmen he hosted at his house last year. He is charged with seven counts of conduct unbecoming an officer, three counts of illegal wiretapping and one count of obstruction of justice.

The Navy began its investigation in January after two men, one a midshipman the other a former student at the academy, turned over to authorities recordings they said they found in Ronan’s home.

In his opening statement, Navy prosecutor Lt. Justin Henderson said Ronan recorded midshipmen either with partners or alone in his spare bedrooms, edited them down to the sexually explicit content and transferred them to DVDs. He said thousands of gay pornographic images were found on Ronan’s home computer.

Ronan “violated the trust of his midshipman sponsorees,” Henderson told the jury of six Navy officers hearing the case at the Washington Navy Yard.

Well, that just blows the lid off “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” doesn’t it? You know, I’ve always wondered where those porn videos of bona-fide military boys getting it on came from. I always just assumed they were actors (and despite what you’re thinking, no, I’ve never watched one to determine for myself, get your minds out of the gutter - and as an aside, yes, I did find it necessary and relevant to link the word “porn” to a site about Paris Hilton).

As stringent as the military is about ejecting anyone accused of homosexuality, it would be a little self-defeating to knowingly allow oneself to be videotaped in pornographic materials intended for commercial distribution. Such media could could be seen by just about anyone. Of course if a commanding officer happened to catch one of his privates (no pun intended) putting on a performance on a Grunts Gone Wild DVD, he’d then have to explain what he was doing watching said DVD…

Snark aside, I really have to wonder what kind of setup Ronan was running that he even had the opportunity to make so many tapes of midshipmen gettin’ down and dirty. Is it common for sponsoring commanders to say “Here; as your sponsor I give all you pretty little students permission to get your boots good and knocked while you’re weekending in my home”?

Now technically, my prior silliness aside, the AP article doesn’t say the tapes themselves were of gay sexual activity; just that there were images of gay porn on Ronan’s hard drive. That doesn’t mean that the images were necessarily taken from the tapes, although 365gay.com puts their own spin on it by taking the same article and titling it “Navy Doctor’s Gay Sex Tape Trial Begins“. Still…I doubt it was standard procedure to allow the men staying with him to bring women home - although I’m sure a few made it in anyway. It’s the weekend, guys are on reprieve, and they’re going to head into town to pick up women. But no doubt a few of the tapes - just by the law of averages - involved a few of those midshipmen getting it on with each other or with men they brought back to Ronan’s home. Who knows whether or not they ended up sold under titles like Military Maneuvers #3.

Regardless of the sexuality involved in the encounters, Ronan’s behavior still constituted gross misconduct unbecoming of a member of the U.S. Military (or at least unbecoming of the ideal of a member of the U.S. Military, as I think we’ve all heard plenty of horror stories about how military men can behave in certain situations). No matter what jokes I might make about the setup of the situation and the irony behind it…I do feel bad for those who were secretly taped. Many would likely be humiliated to discover that their sexual exploits had been published in such a way, and in some cases discovery of what took place on those tapes could cause problems in their everyday lives. I don’t quite buy the blackmail theory, and hope Ronan is prosecuted appropriately.

I’m done. Until tomorrow - happy Halloween, and anchors aweigh.

Maybe I’ll get myself a cute little sailor costume…

gays in the military, navy doctor sex tapes trial, kevin j. ronan, don’t ask don’t tell, gay servicemembers