Thaindian News

London, Mar 2 (ANI): A lesbian army captain was disciplined and sent home early from Afghanistan because her commanding officer objected to her homosexuality.

Karen Tait, 29, a captain in the military police, claims she was stripped of her warrant card and banned from attending the memorial services of colleagues killed in action.

She also claims that a male officer objected to her being a pallbearer for a colleague because “it went against years of military tradition”, and her Afghan tour medal was posted to her in a jiffy bag upon her return to the UK.

Tait, who served with 4 Royal Military Police’s 160 Provost Company after graduating from Sandhurst, in 2004, was issued a formal rebuke following an internal Army disciplinary.

She admits that she pursued a sexual relationship with Sergeant Caroline Graham in the UK, staying in hotels on “four or five” occasions prior to her tour.

But Tait insists that nothing untoward took place during her tour of duty in Helmand Province, and the pair was only briefly stationed together at Camp Bastion following their arrival in the country in October 2009.

“She seemed to dislike me and to be against me from her very first contact with me when she took over command,” the Daily Mail quoted her as saying of Lieutenant Colonel Deborah Poneskis.

“I cannot recall having any normal conversation with her, I can only recall tellings off. In my view, she is prejudiced against me because I am gay.

“I do not believe that she has any genuine belief in the correctness of any of the allegations against me.

“I in no way permitted my relationship with Caroline Graham to affect my professional judgment in or out of an operational environment.

“I believe that she considered I should be dismissed from the army because I am gay and because I am in a gay relationship,” she stated.

Tait said Poneskis had once upset her by introducing her to a colleague at an officers’ mess cocktail party as “my ops officer”, and adding, “She’s in a civil partnership”.

She denied allegations that she was seen massaging sun cream into Graham’s hands while at the base.

“This is not true. There would have been around 200 troops including around eight royal military police at the scene when the incident took place,” she stated.

Tait claimed that despite their prior history, no “sexual contact” took place in Afghanistan, and that they shared different tents with different female soldiers during their stay at Camp Bastion.

“I did not have any intimacy with Caroline of any sort. There was no deliberate physical contact,” she said.

Documents filed with the London Central Employment Tribunal detail an alleged incident in December 2009 in which Captain Tait is threatened with an “AGAI” - a military disciplinary hearing less serious than a court martial.

Her statement also claims that in her final interview with Poneskis, the commander had laughed at her short hair on her warrant card photo, refused permission for Tait to speak to her Brigade Commander, and “grunted” when told that no sexual relationship was taking place.

Tait, who is still serving in the army, returned to work in June 2010 in the UK with the disciplinary warning hearing looming over her head.

Her superior officers had recommended she be discharged from the armed forces.

Tait is suing the Ministry of Defence for sexuality discrimination in a hearing set to last 10 days.

The hearing continues. (ANI)