Speaking out about 'Don't Tell'

When Lt. Dan Choi was stationed in South Baghdad a few years ago, he noticed that the Shi’a minority in Iraq were compelled to be “silent about who they were” for the sake of “political benefits, rank, privilege or money.”

A member of the U.S. military, Choi was jointly hosted by the Asian-Pacific Student Coalition, Penn Sangam, Queer People of Color and the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center in Houston Hall Thursday. He shared his experiences facing a policy similar to the one in Iraq — the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” a federal law created under former President Bill Clinton in 1993 prohibiting lesbians, gays or bisexuals from disclosing their sexual orientation while serving in the military.

When Choi enrolled in the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1999, he knew about DADT. But the decision was more about “joining the military and serving” than being gay, he said.

He complied with DADT for about a decade, but in March 2009, he came out on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show.” Soon afterward, he received a letter notifying him that his discharge was pending and that he was risking “other than honorable discharge” for his “homosexual admission.”

In Choi’s view, DADT is the “enforcement of lying.” Not only are soldiers being asked to lie about their identity, he explained, but soldiers’ same-sex partners are not recognized as family members and, as a result, aren’t notified when soldiers are injured. DADT also limits the availability of the Veteran Affairs medical, pension and other benefits to LGBT soldiers.

“We, as a country, are not supporting all of our troops,” he said.

When asked about President Barack Obama’s efforts to repeal DADT, Choi said Obama “hasn’t done anything,” adding that it is time for Obama to “stop worrying about political capital — we elected him to be a leader.”

In addition to speaking about his experience in the military, Choi appealed to the Asian-American audience as he humorously described coming out to his Korean parents.

“It’s difficult in Asian communities for children to talk to their parents,” he said. Choi said he didn’t know the “vocabulary in Korean” necessary to come out to his Korean immigrant parents and that he had to “translate and explain to my mom several different ways.”

Wharton junior Rohan Grover, the newly elected APSC chairman and outgoing vice chairman, said he arranged the event to create a dialogue about “double minority” issues.

But Choi emphasized that the bigger issue is not “necessarily a gay issue” nor an Asian one but instead a “moral issue.” “ No soldier should have to lie about themselves in order to serve in this country,” he said.

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