Almost two decades after it was introduced as a way to allow gay soldiers to remain in the US military, the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy that effectively prevented openly gay and lesbian personnel from serving is officially off the books as of Tuesday, Sep 20.
Gays and lesbians may now serve openly in the military, and individuals discharged under DADT may apply to rejoin.
Former army lieutenant Dan Choi, who was discharged from service under the military's DADT policy after coming out on "The Rachel Maddow Show", says he is planning to reenlist.
The 30-year-old California-born Korean-American became a gay rights icon after his resulting military discharge galvanised opposition to DADT. His activism led to trouble with the law, and he was later arrested for chaining himself to the White House fence during a protest.
He tells his story in a Global Post interview published Sep 20, 2011:
Choi’s mission to find himself in California after returning from 18 months serving in Iraq had yielded an answer: activism.
“Everything came together,” he said. “Being a veteran, an Asian minority, an Arab linguist, gay, Christian. I always thought I needed to compartmentalize my life. When I became an activist, there was finally this coalescence of all of these identities. It was like a symphony.”
...
“I was closeted the entire time. I never wanted to come out. In fact, I thought the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy was a good thing for me because I could hide behind that.”
His new boyfriend introduced him to politics and LGBT activism. In 2008 Choi celebrated his first Valentine’s Day with a partner.
“I didn’t even know about Obama and ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” Choi recalls. “I voted for him because he was black. I wasn’t even that liberal in the military. I didn’t really have political views.”
...
By May, two major forces in Choi’s life were waging war on his psyche. On one hand, he had a military career he was fully dedicated to. On the other hand, he had met the love of his life but most of his inner circle still didn’t know he was gay. So he started telling them.
“That was probably the hardest time,” Choi said. “Being in the military with a boyfriend that I wanted to marry. I thought, ‘How am I going to be able to keep being in the military this way?”
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Reader's Comments
i guess alot of folks did not see this coming. anyway it is def a positive step forward and i see hope in this country at last - doing something right. yet more can be done to make things right.
proud to be american - always have.
Kirk
http://sexytenga.wordpress.com
http://www.facebook.com/sexytenga
Today, we have many insufferable people who still wallow in self-pity and expect others to do the heavy lifting.
Kudos to Choi!
and his eyes are beautiful too!
Dan is a hero, but he is an American hero, and he should stick to American politics. It's not our job to change the world. The world should change as they see it.
But good for him that he has done this for himself and other opened / closeted gays out there. When I saw him chained to the White House fence, to be honest, I was thinking to myself, what is this loser doing? lol. But I guess it worked for him.
Dan is a credit to the military service and his treatment at the hands of the military authorities was reprehensible.
Thank you dan for your courageous stand...and u are also gorgeous!!!!
Hugs
Gavin
I only have this to add : Laws can be repealed or amended but the prevailing prejudices and misconceptions in society at large take much longer to heal or change than it takes for the US President to sign an act of congress into being or oblivion.
I'm sure Dan Choi has his share of both fan mail and hate mail. Much of the "Bible Belt" of the US is red-neck territory. Don't expect those bigots to view Choi as some kind of icon -- in fact, they might even go through a mock lynching using a mannequin look-alike (if they haven't already by now).
Yet in the milieu, Choi has stood his ground and refused to budge. That takes great courage that so few of us have so, the US Army should re-enlist him with a double promotion (perhaps, to the rank of Major?) to boot.
I still can't help thinking this though. Is the military in any country a good career prospect for gays? For years I have been witnessing press coverage of racial and sexual abuse in the Australian armed forces and wonder why a gay person would put themselves through it.
Let's face it. The service to our respective countries is so very positive but military structures and mores seen red neck and anti-intellectual.
Seriously though... I am so glad that Dan had the moral conviction to courageously protest the way he did... His unwavering valor is what legends are made of...
단최 만나고싶어요!!!
But at same time im doing my part.
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