Critics of the investigation, including SLDN, suggest that military agents acted inappropriately (and perhaps illegally) in the way they approached suspects at Velvet Nation and other clubs. SLDN argues that the Navy could, in fact, have been gay-baiting soldiers in order to nail them in its drug sting. But in the Article 32 hearing, according to Cleghorn, Robertson said he did not pretend he was gay when approaching suspects. It's a question of interpretation that requires a cultural sensitivity that critics say the military lacks.

In testimony, according to Cleghorn, O'Conner stated that his NCIS office didn't have enough younger agents to pull off an effective investigation in the clubs, so they brought in attractive young investigators from local Army and Air Force offices to send out to Velvet Nation and other clubs.

Once it learned of the anti-drug sting, SLDN moved quickly with local gay organizations to launch a counteroffensive and opposition research. With the local chapter of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, it produced 1,000 handbills that were distributed at local gay bars warning patrons of the ongoing investigation, and JR's sponsored a full-page ad in a local gay newspaper, warning of the investigation and soliciting information from patrons who might know more about the operation.

SLDN also sent a letter outlining its concerns about the investigation to Norton; Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.; Julian Potter, the White House liaison to the gay community; Gen. Barry McCaffrey of the White House drug office; Navy Secretary Richard Danzig and a handful of others. The SLDN figured Frank, Norton and Potter would exert their considerable influence to get some answers from Danzig and others at the Pentagon.

Under pressure, the NCIS offered SLDN an olive branch in the form of two meetings with its director. On June 21, NCIS director David Brant and assistant director Tom Houston met with SLDN legal director Stacey Sobel to "clear up misinformation and confusion surrounding the undercover drug operation." According to his spokesman, Brant also answered Norton's concerns with a letter explaining the undercover drug operation and an invitation to meet with him that has gone unanswered. Sobel described the outcome of the first meeting and a follow-up as a "good start."

And already some good has come out of the meetings, Sobel says. "They've made a number of promises about how they conduct themselves, and we want to see those in writing -- we want to see that those are actually the policies of those organizations. They have made assurances to us that they're not going into bars specifically to determine the sexual orientation of service members," says Sobel. "If they do see information about a person's sexual orientation, they don't report that because it's not relevant to a drug case. It won't go into a service member's record. But I want to see something in writing."

But the military doesn't have anything in writing -- yet. "I asked very specifically whether they had any policy, guidance, memoranda or training materials on the 'don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue, don't harass' policy, and they said 'no.' I said it would probably be beneficial for them to have these types of materials. This was something we could work on together," she says. Brant agreed to accept materials from SLDN and expressed a willingness to work on developing his own. "We look forward to working with them to give their agents information about the policy and how service members are impacted by what they do."

"We still need some more information to make final decisions on what happened here," Sobel concludes. "But we've had some very good meetings with the NCIS and they've definitely shown a willingness to work with us. I'm hopeful that they've also realized the seriousness of how investigations that are not related to sexual orientation can still affect a service member."

It's doubtful that SLDN's efforts will aid the two men facing trial and discharge as a result of the investigation. The Marine has been referred to a special court martial, which is more like a misdemeanor, with a maximum of six months confinement, a bad conduct discharge, reduction to the lowest rank and forfeiture of all pay and allowance. The military is notoriously heavy-handed on drug convictions, so any sentence will probably be close to the stiffest punishment permitted.

Brady has been referred to a general court martial, the severest charge you can get in the military, analogous to a felony charge with the possibility of more than 12 months in the slammer, plus all the punitive measures given in a special court martial.

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