Editing Alan G. Rogers (section)

==National media coverage of Rogers's funeral==
Rogers's funeral gained [[Mass media|national media]] publicity, initially on [[MSNBC]], in ''[[The Washington Post]]'''' and on [[National Public Radio|National Public Radio's]] [[Morning Edition]].<ref name="stgeorge"/><ref name="inskeep"/><ref name="rutherford">{{citation|first=John |last=Rutherford |url=http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/14/770008.aspx?p=1 |title=Army Officer Was a Best Man in All Senses |periodical=[[NBC]] Field Notes |date=March 14, 2008 |access-date=2008-04-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080322082901/http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/14/770008.aspx?p=1 |archive-date=2008-03-22 }}</ref> However, initial reports omitted Rogers's [[sexual orientation]] or anything related to the subject.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

The Post and NPR reports coincided with the "grim milestone" that the U.S. Military death toll reached 4,000 dead.<ref name="inskeep"/> Rogers's death and funeral gained [[further]] media attention when it was revealed that he was gay and worked to end the military's DADT policy.<ref name="cjohnson"/>

Initially, members of the national media were well aware of Rogers's sexual orientation,<ref name="howell"/> yet it was widely reported that Rogers was not married and left no children.<ref name="stgeorge"/><ref name="inskeep"/><ref name="rutherford"/> While technically accurate, some members of the [[LGBT]] community viewed the statement as an intentional distortion and dodge of Rogers's sexual orientation.<ref name= "sldn"/><ref name="cianciotto"/><ref name= "smith"/><ref name="sullivan">{{citation |first=Andrew |last=Sullivan |url= http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/03/the-washington.html#more |title=The Washington Post's Well-Meant Homophobia |periodical=[[The Atlantic]] |date=March 28, 2008 |access-date=2008-04-03 }}</ref><ref name="spaulding">{{citation|first=Pam |last=Spaulding |url=http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4898 |title=Media and military closets gay soldier killed in Iraq |periodical=Pam's House Blend:  an Online Magazine in the Reality-Based Community |date=March 28, 2008 |access-date=2008-04-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412021209/http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4898 |archive-date=2008-04-12 }}</ref><ref name="spaulding2">{{citation|first=Pam |last=Spaulding |url=http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4928 |title=WaPo ombudsman: paper wrong to recloset deceased gay soldier |periodical=Pam's House Blend:  an Online Magazine in the Reality-Based Community |date=March 31, 2008 |access-date=2008-04-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412021215/http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4928 |archive-date=2008-04-12 }}</ref>

Rogers's cousin, Cathy Long of Ocala, Fla., said, "The Post did a wonderful job. Personally, as far as the family is concerned, we really didn't know about this until after his death. It was in the back of our minds, but we didn't discuss it." Cathy Long accepted Rogers's flag at the major's funeral. "I really feel Alan was a lot more than that," said Cathy Long who called the ''Washington Blade'' story "self-serving whatever their cause is and that they're trying to use Alan to do that."<ref name= "howell"/>

''The Washington Post'' [[Ombudsman]], [[Deborah Howell]], stated that the editors of the Post deliberated the question of whether to disclose his sexual orientation and ultimately made a decision not to include such information.<ref name= "howell"/>

The Army asked that Rogers's sexual orientation not be disclosed, and the Army presented it as a concern of the family.<ref name="cjohnson"/>

The ''Washington Blade'' reported on the Post's decision to change the story and included more details about Rogers's activities and friends in the LGBT community.<ref name= "cjohnson"/> Subsequently, Howell of ''The Washington Post'', citing Rogers's apparent feelings on DADT, wrote a column admitting that the ''Post's'' article "would have been richer" had it disclosed his sexual orientation and activities in the GLBT community.<ref name= "howell"/>

On March 31, 2008, an [[Anonymity|anonymous]] attempt was made to remove information relating to Rogers's sexual orientation from the present [[Wikipedia]] article. The [[IP address]] associated with the attempt corresponds with the IP address for the office of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (G-2) at the [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]], currently headed by Lt. Gen. John Kimmons.<ref name="cjohnson2">{{citation |first=Chris |last=Johnson |url= http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=17515 |title=Edits to gay soldier's Wikipedia entry traced to Pentagon |periodical=[[Washington Blade]] |date=April 3, 2008 |access-date=2008-04-03|quote=A Wikipedia article about Maj. Alan Rogers, a gay soldier who was killed in January in Iraq, was apparently edited by someone in the Pentagon, who removed any mention that Rogers was gay. The user on Monday redacted details about Rogers that appeared on the online encyclopedia site. Information that was deleted included Rogers’ sexual orientation; the soldier’s participation in American Veterans for Equal Rights, a group that works to change military policy toward gays; .... The IP address attached to the deletion of the details and the posted comments is 141.116.168.135.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412022845/http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=17515|archive-date=12 April 2008}}</ref> Kimmons attended Rogers's funeral and presented the U.S. flag from Rogers's coffin to a family member.<ref name= "inskeep"/> The Army subsequently denied that the IP address associated with the changes "necessarily belongs to any one specific office."<ref name="cjohnson3">{{citation|first=Chris |last=Johnson |url=http://www.washingtonblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=17762 |title=Army: source of Wikipedia edit on gay soldier can't be traced |periodical=[[Washington Blade]] |date=April 17, 2008 |access-date=2008-04-23 |quote=The Army is stating that it cannot identify the source of Wikipedia article edits eliminating any mention that a soldier ... killed in Iraq was gay, even though the changes apparently came from an Army computer user at the Pentagon.  Army spokesman Maj. Nathan Banks said Army checks “do not necessarily indicate” that the IP address associated with the changes “necessarily belongs to any one specific office.” |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211120303/http://www.washingtonblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=17762 |archive-date=February 11, 2009 }}</ref>

The August 4, 2008, issue of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' magazine published a lengthy profile of Rogers, and the larger issues surrounding the DADT debate spurred on by his death. The story quotes Colonel Mike Hardy, who worked with Major Rogers at the Pentagon, as saying, "He did not make any moves to be remembered as a gay soldier. Nowhere in those phone calls home did he say, 'let everyone know that I died a proud gay officer.'" Ben McGrath, the author of the article, then comments, "Of course, being a proud gay officer is tantamount, under the current military policy, to being a retired gay officer with no pension."<ref name="mcgrath">{{citation |first=Ben |last=McGrath |url= http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/08/04/080804fa_fact_mcgrath |title=THE MILITARY LIFE:  A Soldier's Legacy:  Don't ask, don't tell, but Alan Rogers was a hero to everyone who knew him |periodical=[[The New Yorker]] |date=August 4, 2008 |access-date=2010-09-21 }}</ref>

In December 2010, the U.S. Congress passed a bill providing for the potential repeal of DADT pending certain conditions. Those were confirmed in July 2011 by  President [[Barack Obama]], the Secretary of Defense, and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and repeal took effect on September 20, 2011.<ref name="bumiller">{{citation|first=Elisabeth |last=Bumiller|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/23/us/23military.html |title=Obama Ends 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy' |periodical=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 22, 2011 |access-date=2012-10-30 }}</ref>