May 12, 2007 | Sex & Society

One "gay voodoo" remark too many

Everyone knows the US Army is homophobic, but this is ridiculous.  Corey Andrew, an African-American gay man was contacted by recruitment officer Sergeant Marcia Ramode through Monster.com. In her emails with Andrew, Ramode said, among other things, that Andrew should "go back to Africa and do your gay voodoo limbo tango and wango dance and jump around and prance and run all over the place half naked there and practice your gay morals over there..."

Ramode also said that "being gay is disgusting and immoral," and told Andrew to "migrate to another country." Servicemembers Legal Defense Network assisted Andrew is bringing the emails to the attention of Ramode's command.

Ramode  has "been suspended from recruiting duties," and "has been reassigned from Army Recruiting Command to a duty position elsewhere in the Army," according to S. Douglas Smith, Public Affairs Officer for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. 

Smith declined to comment on the specifics of any action taken against Ramode, citing Privacy Act restrictions. Potential punishment may have included anything from a verbal warning to a decrease in pay or rank. "The U.S. Army Recruiting Command expects its Recruiters to conduct themselves in a professional manner in all dealings with potential applicants and members of the public," Smith said.

• copies of the e-mail exchange can be found at [sldn.org].