{"id":33470,"date":"2015-08-27T00:30:57","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T03:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/?p=33470"},"modified":"2016-11-24T22:47:46","modified_gmt":"2016-11-25T01:47:46","slug":"homosexual-air-force-officer-criticizes-former-christian-subordinate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/27\/homosexual-air-force-officer-criticizes-former-christian-subordinate\/","title":{"rendered":"Homosexual Air Force Officer Criticizes Former Christian Subordinate"},"content":{"rendered":"

As previously noted<\/a>, retired SMSgt Phillip Monk recently appeared at a religious freedom forum for GOP presidential candidate and US Senator Ted Cruz (video here<\/a>).\u00a0 SMSgt Monk spoke briefly about his experience of discrimination in the military as a result of the conflict between homosexuality and religious faith.<\/p>\n

SMSgt Monk’s story\u00a0was criticized on a Facebook page called “Team Perry,<\/a>” which cited\u00a0an official military investigation to claim his allegations were “nonsense.”\u00a0 The raison d’\u00eatre<\/em> of the “Team Perry” page is to defend former Lackland AFB squadron commander LtCol Craig Perry: Perry\u00a0was fired under controversial circumstances\u00a0last year,\u00a0and the posts on the page claim to reveal details proving the Air Force treated him\u00a0unjustly\u00a0(despite military investigations and reports to the contrary).\u00a0It took a surprising degree of intellectual inconsistency (or simple hypocrisy), then,\u00a0for Team Perry to cite\u00a0an Air Force investigation to criticize Monk while simultaneously claiming similar investigations were unjust\u00a0when they dealt with\u00a0Perry.<\/p>\n

That Monk’s story would be\u00a0criticized on the Team Perry page may seem odd until you realize Perry and Monk were\u00a0stationed at Lackland AFB together. Further, it turns out LtCol Craig Perry was fast friends with then-fellow squadron commander then-Maj Elisa “Liz” Valenzuela, SMSgt Monk’s commander and the target of his complaints.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There’s nothing wrong with them being friends. But clearly Team Perry is judging SMSgt Monk not just on public reports or even insider information, but also from the viewpoint of a close family friend of his ‘antagonist.’<\/p>\n

As if to prove the point, now-LtCol Valenzuela is a participant on the Team Perry page and weighed in<\/a> on SMSgt Monk’s role in the Ted Cruz\u00a0video:<\/p>\n

He was found to have lied and now he is not in the Air Force any longer<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"

LtCol Liz Valenzuela<\/p><\/div>\n

She doesn’t specify, but presumably\u00a0Valenzuela accused\u00a0Monk of being a liar for saying he was ‘fired’ and reassigned over a conflict with her regarding homosexuality and religious beliefs.\u00a0 While she may contest his characterization, she failed to provided\u00a0evidence it was a lie.\u00a0 For its part, the Team Perry page implicitly admitted Monk’s story was true<\/em>, saying Monk’s assignment cycle was, indeed, changed because of the conflict between Valenzuela and Monk.<\/p>\n

And that was just the beginning.<\/p>\n

The next day,\u00a0LtCol Elisa “Liz” Valenzuela took to Slate.com to publicly rebut the Ted Cruz campaign video. Her interview was entitled “A Lesbian Officer Maligned in Ted Cruz\u2019s Religious Liberty Ad Tells Her Side of the Story<\/a>,” though it was originally called “Ted Cruz’s Religious Liberty Poster Boy Lied about Christian Persecution.” Apparently “maligned lesbian” garners more web hits than “Christian persecution.”<\/p>\n

Once again, Valenzuela used the forum to explicity call Monk a liar [emphasis added]:<\/p>\n

I believe Ted Cruz believes Monk is telling the truth. He doesn\u2019t realize that Monk lied<\/strong>—a lot<\/strong>. Hopefully, if Ted Cruz actually knew that Monk lied<\/strong>, he would not have used him…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s an astounding accusation from an Air Force officer against a retired Senior NCO — especially because she provides no evidence to support her accusation. Worse, she implied there was<\/em> evidence, which she didn’t provide [emphasis added]:<\/p>\n

[The Air Force] launched an investigation and cleared me. They found him guilty of lying<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That assertion of “fact” doesn’t appear to be supported by public information. Monk was<\/em> investigated for making false official statements. The result of the investigation was the allegation was “unsubstantiated,” meaning the investigator could not find sufficient evidence to support the accusation.\u00a0 The investigation, then, did not<\/em> find him “guilty of lying.”\u00a0The Air Force\u00a0subsequently published a press release<\/a> — not an investigation report — saying Monk\u00a0made statements that were “false,” but it\u00a0portrayed them as being ‘incorrect,’ saying\u00a0they did not “rise to a level”\u00a0that violated the UCMJ —\u00a0meaning the Air Force concluded Monk had no\u00a0intent to deceive and\u00a0he believed his statements\u00a0to be true.<\/p>\n

In other words, despite Valenzuela’s staunch accusation, officially, the Air Force “found [Monk] guilty” of nothing.<\/p>\n

But there was more, as Valenzuela raised the stakes in the ‘religion\/homosexuality’ conflict by citing her own religious faith:<\/p>\n

My family, we are Christian as well. We bow our head to pray for dinner. We hold hands and we pray together. It blows my mind that people took Monk at his word. That\u2019s not a Christian thing to do–bearing false witness to your neighbors.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To recap: A proud, open homosexual claims to be a Christian — and then criticizes someone else<\/em> for not being a ‘good Christian’.<\/p>\n

From the\u00a0Christian perspective, something about planks and specks comes to mind.<\/p>\n

For the record, there is no indication SMSgt Monk ever made\u00a0a negative comment about homosexuality while he was in the military (or since).\u00a0 On the other hand, LtCol Valenzuela allegedly denigrated the religious beliefs of her fellow Airmen in the presence of her subordinates, including calling a chaplain a “bigot” for his views on homosexuality.<\/p>\n

SMSgt Monk is retired.\u00a0His conduct is, for the most part, outside of the Air Force’s concern. On the other hand,\u00a0how Air Force officers treat\u00a0fellow Airmen\u00a0who do not share their beliefs\u00a0is<\/em> of direct concern to the Air Force.<\/p>\n

Activists once claimed the integration of openly homosexual service members in the military would be a “non-event.”\u00a0 Years after the repeal of DADT, it seems likely\u00a0even LtCol Valenzuela would say that statement doesn’t ring true.<\/p>\n

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