Second Lesbian In Military Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: October 4,  2007 - 11:00 am ET
Updated 3:00 pm ET

(Washington) A lesbian soldier killed last week in Afghanistan told her family they should press for answers if anything happened to her.

Spc. Ciara Durkin, of Quincy, Massachusetts, was shot in the head last week near her office at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. 

The Department of Defense has said that Durkin was not killed in action.

Durkin's sister, Fiona Canavan, tells the Quincy Patriot Ledger that three weeks ago, when her sister was home on leave, she told her about something she had come across had raised concerns with her.

"She was in the finance unit and she said, 'I discovered some things I don't like and I made some enemies because of it.' Then she said, in her lighthearted way, 'If anything happens to me, you guys make sure it gets investigated,''' Canavan told the Patriot Ledger.

Canavan said she does not believe Durkin killed herself and doubts her sexuality was a factor in her death. Several press reports however have quoted some family members as saying they suspected that she was a lesbian was a factor.  

Durkin's death raises questions about the similarity between the it and the death last year of another lesbian - Sgt. Denise A. Lannaman who was on her second tour of duty when she was found dead in a jeep from a gunshot wound. (story)

Lannaman only hours earlier had been in a meeting with a superior officer who told her that she would be sent home in disgrace. Her family was told about the meeting but not what she was accused of.

Was she about to be outed?  Was she the victim of a blackmail campaign over her sexuality perpetrated by another solider who was being investigated for money laundering?

That solider, Colonel Gutierrez, had been arrested and confined to barracks but was found dead of a drug overdose just weeks earlier.

The families of both dead women are pressing for full investigations.

Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts, Durkin's home state, also are calling for a full and thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death.

"Every day, more than 65,000 lesbian and gay Americans report for duty in our armed forces," said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. 

"Ciara’s story is a vivid reminder of the sacrifice our community makes on behalf of our nation’s freedom and defense."

Thursday Army investigators met with family members for about four hours to try to reassure them they were doing all they could to investigate the case. 

Following the meeting the family issued a statement saying it wanted to give the military as much time as it needed to work on it.

Durkin was deployed to Afghanistan in February and was due to return home next January. Her funeral is scheduled for Saturday at St. John’s Parish Church on School Street in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Legislation to abolish 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' the policy of not permitting gay or lesbian servicemembers in the armed forces is before Congress.

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