Steve Crowston, USN
The Navy has punished a pair of officers who commanded an outfit that joked about assigning call signs like “Romo’s Bitch” and “Fagmeister” to their administrative officer during a 2009 call sign review board. It’s a sign of changing times in the Navy, which for decades has struggled with letting women into its inner sanctums, how much tomfoolery should be permitted during various sea-going and promotion ceremonies, and just how to treat sailors believed to be gay.
Lieutenant (j.g.) Steve Crowston (who has refused to disclose his sexual orientation, saying it is irrelevant) complained loudly and longly at the way he says he was treated by his Navy superiors. On Friday, the Navy said that Navy Secretary Ray Mabus agreed with Crowston. The senior Navy F-18 pilot involved retired last month, and the second has receiving counseling in connection with the case. A Navy inspector general investigation found that the two officers in charge of the Norfolk, Va.-based Strike Fighter Squadron 136 “failed to perform their leadership responsibilities…because they did not immediately halt the discussion and assignment of call signs that were degrading and embarrassing to squadron personnel during the CSRB.” Crowston was pleased. “After experiencing anti-gay discrimination, and subsequent reprisal and retaliation by the aviation chain of command, I stood up for myself and for others,” he said Sunday. “Stand up for who you are and don’t let anyone degrade or humiliate you because you may not have the same preference they have.”