Advocacy group: Navy stops discharge of sailor in sleepover

By the CNN Wire Staff STORY HIGHLIGHTSPetty Officer Stephen Jones dozed off beside another male sailor while watching TVThe Navy had sought to discharge him for "unprofessional conduct"A gay advocacy group says the charge was an end run around the repeal of don't ask, don't tell (CNN) -- The Navy has halted discharge proceedings against a sailor who was found asleep in the same bed with another male sailor, according to a announcement Friday by Servicemembers United, the nation's largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans.

Petty Officer Stephen Jones, who is stationed at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Charleston, South Carolina, has contended that the Navy's effort to discharge him for "unprofessional conduct" was a trumped-up charge based on the command's suspicion that he might be gay.

Jones also contended that the non-judicial punishment for "unprofessional conduct" was a maneuver around the "don't ask, don't tell" repeal that President Obama signed into law in December.

When contacted by CNN, Navy officials didn't have an immediate comment.

Alexander Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United, said the Navy "undoubtedly did the right thing in reversing its decision," made in March, to discharge Jones, who dozed off beside another male sailor while watching television on February 5.

In a recent interview with CNN, Jones, a student at the Nuclear Power Training Command, said another male sailor stopped by that night and they both inadvertently fell asleep on Jones' bed while they watched the CW TV show "Vampire Diaries."

"We strongly suspected that his command was trying to find a roundabout way to discharge Jones because it suspected him of being gay, and we simply were not willing to stand by and watch a new version of 'don't ask, don't tell' emerge under the new label of 'unprofessional conduct,'" Nicholson said in a statement.

Jones hired civilian attorney Gary Myers -- a former JAG officer who is one of the most experienced civilian military defense attorneys in the country -- to fight his discharge, and Servicemembers United worked closely with Jones and Myers to help publicize the case and persuade Navy leaders to retain Jones, according to the Servicemembers United statement.

CNN's Adam Levine and Michael Martinez contributed to this report.

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