Air Force Officer Honorably Discharged

A lesbian Air Force officer was honorably discharged Monday, due to the military's ban on openly gay and lesbian service members.

First Lt. Robin Chaurasiya, 25 started her military career in the ROTC and has since risen through the ranks, ending up at Scott Air Force Base. Because she will end the Air Force before her contract has expired, she will have to repay approximately $16,000 in scholarship money that she earned through the ROTC.

In July a male former officer who once dated Chaurasiya provided her commanding officer with information proving she is gay. Officials dismissed the complaint, but Chaurasiya decided to come out publicly anyway. The Air Force general overseeing her case refused to recommend that she be let go. However a more senior officer, Gen. Raymond E. Johns Jr., recommended Monday that she be honorably discharged.

Chaurasiya entered a civil union with another woman in New Hampshire in December, which was also an influencing factor in her being discharged.

She told the Belleville News Democratthat she will spend a few weeks in the St. Louis, Mo. area before going to Mumbai, India, the birthplace of her pArents, to work at a charitable organization for girls that she started.