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More gays kicked out of Ft. Leonard Wood than any base

Entrance to Fort Leonard Wood
Entrance to Fort Leonard Wood

By AP/KWMU

Washington, DC. – Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. leads the way in the number of soldiers kicked out of the military for breaking the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

A group called the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network compiled the data from the Defense Department, and found 60 people were dismissed last year from Fort Leonard Wood. That's more than any other military installation in the country.

"Don't ask, don't tell" prohibits the military from inquiring about the sex lives of personnel but also requires openly gay members be discharged.

The second-highest number of discharges, 49, were at Fort Campbell on the Kentucky-Tennessee line. A Fort Campbell soldier was bludgeoned to death in 1999 by a fellow soldier who believed he was gay.

Gay discharges from the base went up sharply right after that but later went down.

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