A British sailor accused of sexual assault has been cleared of his charges after arguing in court that his demisexual identity made it impossible for him to have committed the crime.
Triss Smythe, an Air Engineering Technician with the Royal Navy, was found not guilty of sexual assault following a 3-day trial in a Wiltshire, UK, military court. The charges stemmed from a summer incident in which Smythe, who identifies as non-binary, was reported after non-consensually kissing, licking, and “grinding up” on a fellow serviceman.
The alleged incident took place at the Royal Navy Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset. Smythe was said to have circled behind the alleged victim, grabbed him in a tight embrace, and thrust against him to the point that he could feel Smythe’s penis against him. Smythe also kissed him on the neck for what the alleged victim reported “felt like a lifetime.”
According to The Daily Mail, the complainant forcefully pushed Smythe away and told him to stop, after which he filed a formal report with higher-ups. During the trial, he reported feeling “violated and humiliated” by the acts.
“I don’t know what I had done to deserve it. To do it on the neck, for me that’s a really sexual and passionate area. It was unwarranted and unprecedented and there is no history between us,” the alleged victim told the court.
The complainant’s testimony was supported by a witness, a female sailor, who substantiated his account of the story. She reported that Smythe had “gripped [the victim] extremely close – I don’t think you could have got a hand between them.”
The witness continued: “It looked like Smythe kissed his neck. I saw him do something quite intimate. It wasn’t something I would have done to a colleague. It’s not something you would expect at work.”
But Smythe contested the claims, saying he had only briefly touched and kissed the alleged victim.
During the course of the trial, Smythe also told the court he could not have assaulted the other sailor because he was demisexual.
“I am demisexual – with emotional requirements. It is on the asexual spectrum … The fact is I’m demisexual – sexual urge isn’t something that comes easily with my own fiancee, let alone a colleague.”
Demisexual people are said to only feel sexually attracted to another person when they have formed an emotional bond with the person, or have gotten to know them.
Smythe suggested that his sexual identity made it so that he could not have sexually assaulted anyone unless he had a strong emotional bond with them. Smythe argued that he did not find the alleged victim sexually attractive, and thus there was no sexual undertone to his touching.
Smythe, who is reportedly engaged to a woman, was apparently known for yelling “I’m here and I’m queer” in the workplace.
Last year, Smythe was profiled by Forces.net in an article encouraging people to make “small changes” to help “non-binary, trans and women” service members feel included.
Smythe mentioned that his squadron had assigned a special washroom to be gender-neutral for him in an effort to accommodate his non-binary gender identity.
“It had a sign on it saying ‘gender-neutral toilet’ which means I didn’t feel like I was in a male space, therefore I had to be male.”
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