The parrot made me do it

U.S. Navy Capt. Owen Honors clearly thinks he has a good sense of humor and sees himself as a regular guy.

Honors is the Navy officer who was relieved this week as commander of the aircraft carrier Enterprise.

Trouble is, humor is not nearly as important in a commander of a U. S aircraft carrier as is ... say ... good judgment.

His mission with his extraordinary TV performances for his crew was to "boost morale." But when I watched the three videos that were posted online this week, it was like watching a goat rodeo. Honors and his crew were having a great time as they stepped blithely over the line between funny and nasty.

I took a special interest in the videos because of my experience in the late 1960s at American Forces Television in Germany. I can just imagine the "fun" that Honors and his production crew had as they thoughtlessly broke the rules of common decency in the name of "boosting morale" -- for an audience that's "just us guys."

The mayonnaise hit the Mixmaster when the videos were posted online. Honors lost his job.

As he should have.

In the clips that brought down a commander, the world saw female sailors in a shower stall pretending to wash each other, male sailors parading in drag, simulated masturbation, a simulated rectal exam, and a scene that implies that an officer is having sex with a donkey. Honors proves what he must see as his "regular guy" fighter-jock persona by casually tossing off repellent anti-gay slurs.

(If you click on this link and watch the video, imagine just for a moment what it must have felt like for the carrier's lesbian and gay crew members. And remember that they were forced by Federal law to remain closeted. The No. 2 officer on the carrier was making shamelessly crude and immature jokes for the sake of "boosting morale." Many gay men and women have the self-confidence to handle such a situation. Others don't. It's certain that none of them felt their morale had been boosted.)

I have no doubt that Honors thinks he is a decent man. He has a right to be proud of his many accomplishments in service to his country.

But what behavior was he modeling for his straight crew members? And who was "boosting the morale" of the gay and lesbian minority under his command? Honors certainly wasn't.

The ugly attitudes that Honors perpetuated in his Enterprise videos were certainly more prevalent in the military 40 years ago. Good taste kept them off the air, but anti-gay prejudice still contaminated the culture.

But that was 40 years ago. Prejudices have faded. Or have they? Honors has done his best to keep anti-gay slurs alive and well.

The Navy so far has acted wisely, if incredibly slowly.

But the investigation can't end here. Honors' superiors have known about the videos for several years. They did nothing that we know of, and even promoted Honors from executive officer to commanding officer of the Enterprise.

The search for answers must go deeper and higher. As the Virginian-Pilot said on its editorial page yesterday, "With their silence, his superiors failed the Navy even more grievously than Honors did."