Army Hero Defiant After Surviving Brutal Gay Bashing Attack

 A Daily Beast Exclusive

‘There are assholes who [try] to stifle you, to quiet you down and show their dismay at who you are. Don’t allow these f---ing assholes to do that to you.’ 

 By Spencer Ackerman 

Charles William Davis II enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1999. He deployed to Bosnia in 2000, Iraq in 2004, and Afghanistan in 2007 and 2009. It took until his fifth deployment, back to Afghanistan in 2012, following the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, that we was able to openly fight his country’s wars as a gay man.

Along the way, Davis proved his mettle. He earned three Bronze Stars for his exemplary service as a senior intelligence sergeant. But none of that mattered to his attackers, just before the New Year in El Paso, who just saw a gay man they wanted to punish for being unapologetically who he is.

Davis has the full-throated, unambiguous support of his entire chain of command, from his fellow senior enlisted soldiers to his commanding officer, and all the way up to division headquarters. But he can’t shake the awful suspicion that the men who gaybashed him are soldiers as well.

During the early morning hours of December 31, near the Fort Bliss base where First Sergeant Davis currently serves, Davis and a fellow soldier—a straight friend whom he identified only as Julio—were having drinks with friends at El Paso’s Rockin’ Cigar Bar & Grill. It was a normal Saturday night out that turned into an early Sunday morning. Davis made no secret of who he is: “I’m an openly gay guy. When I meet people, that’s the first thing I tell them, because I don’t want them to be taken aback.” No one at the bar gave them any trouble, and they stayed until last call.

After the bar closed up, Davis and Julio wandered into a nearby parking lot to wait for an Uber to take them back to Fort Bliss. They encountered four men—“I can’t really remember how it started,” Davis said—and it quickly got heated. “They started calling me ‘f**got,’” Davis said. Curse words flew quickly, with Davis telling them to “go the fuck along” while he and Julio wanted for their car. 

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