Army recruiter
suspended for antigay e-mails

The Army recruiter who sent antigay and racist rants to a Jersey City, N.J., job seeker via e-mail has been suspended from recruiting and is under investigation by the military, reports the Chicago Tribune.

On February 27, Sgt. Marcia Ramode contacted freelance copywriter Corey Andrew Powell, who had posted his resume on CareerBuilder.com, inviting him to apply to the armed forces. Powell responded that he was openly gay and asked if that would disqualify him. The two exchanged e-mails for the next three days in which Ramode became increasingly insulting and racist.

According to the Tribune, she wrote, "You head off to gay land of people who have no morals, and get rid of yourself. Personally I think being gay is disgusting and immoral. You are definitely unqualified, now take you gay self someplace else we do not tolerate gay people like you in any part of the military."

Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Recruitment Command at Fort Knox, Ky., confirmed to the Tribune that Ramode has been suspended from recruiting duties until the investigation is complete. Citing the investigation, he did not comment on the sergeant's actions but indicated that there is a procedure in place for handling openly gay applicants and all recruiters are expected to behave professionally.

"If an applicant makes a statement that he or she is homosexual, the recruiter must inform the applicant in a professional manner that they are not eligible for enlistment," Smith said in a statement. (The Advocate)