Not ashamed, not finished

Several months ago Lieutenant Dan Choi said he is gay. Proceedings to dismiss him from the military have begun, but not yet complete, though it is surprising it is taking so long. Choi spent time away from his unit, using that time to talk a lot publicly about the injustices done to gay people. Choi was recently back training with his unit for deployment this summer. This is background for this week's events, so I'm sorry I don't have links to it all.

Recently, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) policy that requires gays to be closeted while they serve in the military has been debated in Congress and mentioned by Obama, though many supporters in Congress say Obama wants the whole thing to disappear for the rest of the year -- when there are likely more GOP members of Congress and the policy would be harder to repeal.

Not only are many gays annoyed with Obama (that I have written about before), they are also annoyed that the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the top gay lobbying organization, would rather play nice with politicians than to actually do something of substance for gays.

All that came to a head on Thursday. HRC and celebrity Kathy Griffin held a rally in Washington in support of repealing DADT. Dan Choi, in uniform, crashed the rally and asked to speak to the crowd. He had enough of talk and it was time for action. He led the crowd (without HRC or Griffin) to the White House where he said he wasn't going to leave until DADT was repealed. He and another officer then chained themselves to the White House fence. Police and Secret Service let the demonstration continue for an hour before arresting Choi and the other officer.

A couple fine photos here.

The head of HRC was miffed that Choi stole his thunder. Poor baby.

Rather than posting bond and being released, both officers spent the night in jail. It seems that Choi was not even allowed to make a phone call. At the hearing the next day both requested a trial rather than simply paying a fine. When asked to give his plea Choi said, "I'm not ashamed. I'm not finished. Not guilty."

Choi's military career may indeed be over now with this civil disobedience. Fellow soldiers are reportedly annoyed that he took part in politics while in uniform. Even so, it looks like he has a promising career as an activist. This may also be the catalyst for another civil rights movement, this time on behalf of gays.

Also stirring the pot at the same time were several activists working for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) which prevents employers for firing someone simply for being gay. The act reportedly has enough votes to pass the House, yet Speaker Pelosi refuses to schedule the vote. A big reason is that House Dems have stuck their necks out for some controversial votes and the Senate refuses to take up the issues. To demand action these activists entered Pelosi's office and refused to leave until she scheduled a vote or they were arrested. Police eventually came.

Some gay activists were annoyed the ENDA protest was done this week since Pelosi is so busy getting the health insurance reform bill across the finish line. Even though some specific gay-friendly clauses were omitted, the whole thing will help gays as it will help millions of others.

On being released, Choi said, "There was no freer moment than being in that prison. It was freeing for me. I thought of all the other people that were still trapped, that were still handcuffed and fettered in their hearts."

The gay civil rights movement has a new hero and leader.