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Drunken Marines Expose Themselves, Perform Oral Sex On Each Other, Outside Nightclub

Though drummed out of the corps, the three avoided any jail time.

Three Marines were caught on video drunkenly exposing themselves and performing sex acts on each in a Scottish nightclub have avoided jail time, though they've been expelled from the service.

Police in Arbroath, Scotland say Luke Bowen, Jordan Coia and Ben James committed "puerile and repugnant" acts outside DeVitos nightclub near the Royal Marine base in Angus.

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LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 2: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in his role as Captain General, Royal Marines, makes his final individual public engagement as he attends a parade to mark the finale of the 1664 Global Challenge, on the Buckingham Palace Forecourt on August 2, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Yui Mok - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Shortly before 1am, the club's manager was told "there were a number of males with their genitals exposed outside," said Deputy Stewart Duncan. "A member of security staff checked but found nothing untoward." But in reviewing CCTV footage the next day, the full incident came to light and staff reported it to authorities.

In the video, the men are seen drinking each other's urine and putting their penises in each other's mouths, simulating oral sex. Bowen is seen pulling his pants up just as club security comes over. "It appears there’s an expectation that Marines participate in conduct such as this," said Deputy Duncan. "This was puerile and repugnant as the narration clearly demonstrates."

The trio plead guilty to charges of public indecency but will face no jail time and won't be placed on the sex offenders registry, as the court accepted there was "no significant sexual element" to their actions. (Each will also perform more than 200 ours of community service.)

"He had hoped this would be a lifelong career but it has been brought to an end," said Bowen's attorney Lynne Sturrock. "He’s ashamed and embarrassed at this incident and his family and friends now are all aware of the circumstances of it."

Other Marines present pleaded not guilty to public indecency and remain in service.

For some, the incident may seem like a harmless, if gross, bit of horseplay. But for centuries, gay men have been arrested, imprisoned, and even executed for less—and in more private surroundings. In fact, Scotland was the last jurisdiction in Europe to abolish the death penalty for same-sex intercourse, reducing the penalty to life imprisonment in 1889.

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A gay rights protester in drag with a banner declaring 'Not Every Boy Dreans Of Being A Marine' during a Gay Rights march up Fifth Avenue to Central Park, New York City. (Photo by Brian Alpert/Getty Images)

Were Bowen and Coia gay men caught performing these acts, rather than drunk straight men, would they have gotten off so lightly? Western governments—Canada, Australia, and Great Britain, among them—are only now apologizing for the persecution and imprisonment of people simply for who they loved.

In fact, On November 7, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will issue a formal apology to gay men convicted of now-abolished offenses in Scotland, coinciding with legislation automatically pardoning anyone convicted of such crimes.

The measure, said a spokesperson, "will right a historic wrong."

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