The Bisexual and The Navy

Ensign Vernon Berg III, 24, is Navy all the way--son of a Navy chaplain, and a 1974 Annapolis graduate who once dated the daughter of the academy's former superintendent Vice Admiral William P. Mack. He is also an avowed bisexual fighting dismissal from the service for homosexual behavior. At his discharge hearing before a five-officer board last week in Norfolk, Admiral Mack was on hand to defend him.

Berg, once president of the student body at Frank Cox High School in Virginia Beach, Va., was an average student at the academy and dated girls frequently. Last July, after the Navy heard reports about his sexual life and began an investigation, Berg resigned and was transferred from the Sixth Fleet flagship Little Rock to Norfolk Naval Base for discharge. Meanwhile, he read of the struggle by Air Force Technical Sergeant Leonard Matlovich (TIME, June 9) to challenge the armed services' ban on homosexuals. Berg too decided to fight. He had the full support of his family, including his father, Commander Vernon Berg Jr., a Protestant chaplain at Great Lakes, Ill., Naval Training Center. Said Commander Berg: "Some people are born lefthanded and some righthanded. In our family we accept people as they are."

Avowed Sexuality. The Government's chief witness, Journalist Second Class Laurent Crofwell, 28, testified that Berg made a pass at him last year in Italy. Berg denied the charge. While admitting homosexual acts with three civilian males during the past seven years--plus heterosexual activity--Berg denied having sex with anyone in the armed forces, and called for a lie detector test to prove it. Berg does not advocate blanket acceptance of "blatant" homosexuals or bisexuals, but thinks he should be judged solely on his competence as a naval officer and his ability to keep his sex life separate.

Admiral Mack, 60, proved as unconventional at the Norfolk hearings as he had last August, when he shook up the Navy with a speech blaming U.S. failure in Viet Nam on minds closed to dissenting opinion. Mack testified that he knew Berg only during his academy days, but on that basis thinks the ensign should be kept in the Navy. Johns Hopkins Sex Specialist John W. Money, an expert witness, told the board that psychological tests showed Berg to be highly intelligent, balanced and creative. Said Money: "If the Navy can be broad-minded enough not to stigmatize him because of his avowed sexuality, he will have no trouble."

The Navy argued that its personnel "should be able to live in close association" without exposure "to a homosexual atmosphere." With a decision due this week, few observers think Berg will be a Navy man much longer.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.