Lesbian Soldier Commits Suicide After Being Raped In Military For Coming Out

A lesbian soldier took her own life on May 3 after allegedly being sexually assaulted by a military colleague just days after coming out as part of the LGBTQ community.

Authorities said that Air Force Private First Class Kaylie Harris, 21, committed suicide by using a handgun she bought at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska and shooting herself in the head.

A pair of military chaplains arrived at her home at 6:40 a.m. on May 3 and confirmed her death.

According to USA Today, Harris had filed a sexual assault complaint against a fellow service member. The ordeal reportedly occurred only 10 days after she had disclosed her sexual orientation on Facebook.

Following the alleged rape, she had expressed thoughts of suicide to her military supervisors, who placed her in counseling and under a do-not-arm order for her own protection.

Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek had vowed to take necessary actions following the alleged assault. An investigation by the Office of Special Investigations was immediately launched soon after, she said.

The motive behind the alleged sexual assault offense remains unknown.

The suspected assailant was reportedly deployed to another duty location pending completion of the probe. Stefanek said that the alleged attacker was also slapped with a military protective order against him to ensure there was no contact between Harris and the airman.

However, a military mishap allowed Harris to come into contact with her assailant days before her death. Both remained on the base near downtown Anchorage in the face of military efforts designed to keep them apart. Just days after that contact, the young soldier took her own life.

Harris's death is among the cascade of sexual assault offenses and suicide cases that has gripped LGBTQ troops within the service. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, rape and sexual assault offenses, considered anti-LGBTQ hate crimes, are often used as "weapons" against members of the queer community.

Harris's grieving family asserted that she would still be alive if the military had taken the sexual assault report more seriously. The force should have heeded red flags that signaled the soldier's worsening mental health crisis to prevent the imminent danger, they maintained.

Carey Harris, the mother of the deceased soldier, said that her daughter's alleged attacker should be hit with hate-crime charges, arguing that the assault triggered her daughter to kill herself.

The Harris matriarch insisted it was a hate crime, calling on military law to make necessary changes to protect LGBTQ troops so what happened to Harris never happens again.

Currently, the Uniform Code of Military Justice has no legislation addressing hate crimes.

In a statement, the Army said that Harris' death stresses the need to prevent and address sexual assault woes within the force.

“No member of the Army team should be subjected to sexual harassment, sexual assault, or associated retaliation," the statement read.

The Advocate noted that the young soldier had discussed concerns about sexual assault in the military as well as the military’s treatment of LGBTQ troops. Her recruiter had assured her the service was clamping down on discrimination against the LGBTQ community within the service.

The investigation of the alleged rape and Harris' death will rely heavily on interviews with Harris' family, a suicide note from the young soldier, statements from military officials, as well as briefing and counseling recordings handed by military officials.