Joseph Rocha landed in Bahrain as an 18-year-old to serve as a dog handler. In keeping with the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, he kept the fact he is gay a secret, but his fellow sailors found out anyway. How? Because he wouldn’t screw prostitutes.

The knowledge of Rocha’s sexuality paired with DADT enabled his fellow sailors to torment him and bribe him into silence. Rocha didn’t report his abuse. Doing so would reveal that he is gay and that would mean he could no longer serve his country.

Rocha eventually declared his homosexuality to the Navy after they investigated the abuse and failed to punish his commanding officer, instead charging Rocha’s best friend, Petty Officer 1st Class Jennifer Valdivia, for inadequately preventing the commanding officer from committing the abuse. She committed suicide in 2007, while the offending commanding officer has since been promoted.

The evidence is mounting that DADT harms our national security. However, it is also important to remind ourselves how the policy damages the individuals who choose to serve in the military despite it. It is absurd to hinge careers on how well people can lie about their sexuality. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” doesn’t mean people don’t know.

Photo from Flickr user Youth Radio under the Creative Commons License.

The news comes after the Abu Dhabi government “unequivocally condemn[ed] the actions” and said they would “conduct a comprehensive review of the matter” last week.

Human Rights Watch, who earlier sent a letter to the UAE urging them to bring the Sheikh to justice, said the arrest was “reassuring,” but reiterated their call for “an independent body” to investigate the incident.

This is a positive step forward for the Abu Dhabi government, but the slow drip of proceedings is concerning. It appears to have taken international media coverage and a Human Rights Watch condemnation to push the government to even looking into the matter. It will be important that Abu Dhabi and the UAE actually bring justice to such a close family member of the Crown Prince. They will if they are as committed to human rights and NYU’s vision as John Sexton claims them to be.

Yesterday, the Government of Abu Dhabi “unequivocally condemn[ed] the actions depicted on the video” and the Human Rights Office of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department believes those actions “appear to represent a violation of human rights” and will “conduct a comprehensive review of the matter,” even though no charges were brought against either party involved.

On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch, an independent watchdog organization, called for the investigation and prosecution of Sheikh Issa.

This is the first official statement about the incident from the UAE and Abu Dhabi.

The political fallout from the torture video has been damaging to the country.

Yesterday, news broke that the video is causing delays in the civil nuclear deal between the US and UAE. Senior US officials said the administration is waiting to ratify the deal “because it believes sensitivities over the story can hurt its passage.”

The nuclear deal was signed in January by the Bush administration and the UAE, but Obama’s administration had to re-certify it. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has already signed it and sent it to Obama, but the torture video has held up proceedings indefinitely over fears that legislators against the deal will use the video as leverage.