Eric Massa and the UCMJ

Congressman Eric Massa (Democrat from New York) is a direct reputiation to Barack Obama's planned changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

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The UCMJ has long banned open homosexuals from serving in the military of the United States, and prior to Bill Clinton's changes to the code in 1993 any homosexual activity was grounds for discharge from service - or worse. (Sodomy was defined as a criminal offense, punishable by jail time.) Clinton changed the policy, instituting "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" which made homosexual behavior a private matter, provided it was kept private by the soldier in question. This altered a near total ban on homosexuality in the military imposed in 1981, bucking a liberalization trend in society. Now Barack Obama wants to change the Clinton policy, allowing openly practicing homosexuals to continue to serve in the military. There are reasons - good reasons - for such a ban. The New York Democrat Massa is one of them. According to this piece in The Atlantic

"According to Peter Clarke, a Navy shipmate, Massa was notorious for making unwanted advances toward subordinates. He tells the story of his friend Stuart Borsch, with whom Massa shared a hotel room while on leave during the first Gulf War. "Stuart's at the edge of the bed," Clarke says Borsch told him at the time, "and [Massa] starts massaging him. Massa said, 'You'll have to get one of my special massages.' He called them 'Massa Massages.'" Ron Moss, a Navy shipmate and Borsch's roommate, confirmed that Borsch told him this story at the time. Borsch, now a history professor at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, didn't addresss that specific incident, but did confirm to me in an email that he was groped by Massa: "In 1990, aboard the U.S.S. Jouett, I was awakened when a senior officer, Lt. Commander Massa, seemed to be groping me. (I was a lieutenant at the time.) I believe he may have been drinking. I shouted at him and he left. I mentioned the incident to several other officers. I did not officially report it." Clarke says that Massa's roommate, Tom Maxfield, was also assaulted. "Tom lived on upper bunk," Clarke say. "When you're on ship, you're almost exhausted 24-7. So a lot of times you sleep with your uniform on. Tom and Massa shared a stateroom together. Massa climbed up on the top of his bunk, which is hard to do--you never crawl up on somebody else's bunk. He wakes up to Massa undoing his pants trying to snorkel him." Ron Moss also confirmed hearing this story from Maxfield. Maxfield did not return calls and messages left for him--I'll update if he does. Massa's shipmates didn't turn him in for fear that he would retaliate. "He was a cocky guy, competent, but he saw himself as a future admiral," Moss told me. "It doesn't surprise me he wound up in Congress." When news of Dickert's dispute with Massa appeared in the Rochester, New York, Democrat-Chronicle in 2006, several of Massa's former shipmates considered coming forward. One of them referred to the dispute as "classic Massa" in an email that was forwarded to me. As Moss wrote to Borsch and Maxfield just before the 2006 election, when Massa first ran for Congress, "I think it is ironic that Massa is accusing this guy [Dickert] of the same thing he tried with you guys (and who knows how many others?) and I think it is pathetic that he would drag his own son into the fray in a public forum." In the end, the former shipmates did not go public with their stories."

So, Massa made unwanted advances - many of them - toward his shipmates while in the Navy, at a time when there was a total ban on homosexual activity (Massa served prior to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"). He is currently under investigation for sexually harassing his staffers. He has indulged in a pattern of behavior, going back at least to his days in military service. That service was the springboard for his political career, it must be pointed out. And Massa did these things in violation of the UCMJ; how much worse will it be when the code opens the door? There are good reasons for banning homosexuals from the military; the close proximity of the men in often cramped quarters, the necessity for establishing a deep, almost spiritual bond between men who must rely on their fellows for their very lives, the absolute power held by superior officers over their men all argue against the policy being proposed by the President. Sex is a very powerful force, especially to the young. The policy changes the President is recommending is guaranteed to produce more Massas, men who will prey on their subordinates and even their superiors. Once such a policy is put in place the military will find itself drowning in a sea of charges and counter charges, as some homosexuals will claim they are being harassed, understanding the power of such a charge to advance their own interests. Officers will fear giving unpleasant orders to open homosexuals, and subordinates to openly gay officers will fear to reject any advance lest the power of the code of justice be meted against them in retaliation. The bonds of brotherhood will be replaced by fear, fear of the political power that the newly protected class can wield. And if anyone doubts that such abuse will occur, one need merely look at the Catholic Church, where priests abused their positions of trust and their charges. If men dedicated to God cannot be trusted to remain celibate, how can one expect an openly gay soldier to keep his honor? It has often been argued that this is the next phase of civil rights, that this is a situation analagous to the integration of blacks into the military. That is purest nonsense; black soldiers do not behave in a manner that is fundamentally disturbing to the cohesion of the unit. Skin color is not behavior, and soldiers know only one color - green (or navy blue) once they don the uniform of their country. Sexual behavior is an entirely different story. Congressman Massa proved that point.