ONTD Political

sunoftheskye

10:23 am - 05/07/2009
SHOCK: Knights Out's Dan Choi Kicked Out of National Guard



When National Guard First Lieutenant Dan Choi uttered the phrase "I am gay" on Rachel Maddow's show in March, he had to expect this day might come: He's been kicked out of the National Guard. A member of Knights Out — a group of West Point grads who came out publicly to protest Don't Ask Don't Tell — he received a letter informing him of his dismissal, which read in part: "You admittedly publicly that you are a homosexual, which constitutes homosexual conduct … Your actions negatively affected the good order and discipline of the New York Army National Guard."

He'll be on Maddow's show again tonight.

Of course, Choi isn't the first, nor the last, to lose his military job over DADT. But I guess we can wait till President Obama finds a "sensible" way to change — err, sorry, to "repeal" the policy.


Source

Leave a Comment
britneyschalupa 7th-May-2009 03:32 pm (UTC)
This pisses me off sfm. I hate dadt, doma, bans on gay marriage, bans on my periods or any psycho pro-life movement and clowns.
sunoftheskye 7th-May-2009 03:36 pm (UTC)
LOL @ BANS ON PERIODS
lavenderfrost 7th-May-2009 04:07 pm (UTC)
Hey - if they can find a realistic way to make it happen, I'M ALL FOR BANS ON PERIODS KTHNX. *grumbles & goes to store to buy more pads*
britneyschalupa 7th-May-2009 04:09 pm (UTC)
OH I concur, but I don't think that they would think it that far through.
keeni84 7th-May-2009 05:08 pm (UTC)
*goes with you*
lanrek 7th-May-2009 05:25 pm (UTC)
lol @ vaginas
iamcheryltweedy 7th-May-2009 06:34 pm (UTC)
hey, now
lanrek 7th-May-2009 06:37 pm (UTC)
ur an allstar
iamcheryltweedy 7th-May-2009 07:02 pm (UTC)
get ur game on
sunoftheskye 7th-May-2009 03:46 pm (UTC)
You've never heard of Don't Ask, Don't Tell?
peebs1701 7th-May-2009 05:03 pm (UTC)
In the military it is definitely legal, in fact, required. In most states it is legal to discriminate against someone for sexual orientation as well (unless that recent legislation passed and I didn't hear about it). It is the stupidest thing ever.
lisaee 7th-May-2009 05:19 pm (UTC)
Yeah, it's illegal to discriminate against gays in the UK military, and the standard physical contact rules apply to everyone, regardless of sexuality. The US's system is so odd.
lavenderfrost 7th-May-2009 07:58 pm (UTC)
Don't Ask, Don't Tell - Gays can be in the military, but they can't talk about it and if they're discovered, they have to go. The policy used to be that they couldn't serve at all, openly or closeted, DADT was supposed to be some kind of Middle Ground.
shirozora 7th-May-2009 03:42 pm (UTC)
*wants to give this man a hug*
hourglasscreate 7th-May-2009 03:58 pm (UTC)
You guys keep missing the point of DADT. DADT was the first policy to *allow* gays to be in the military. Before that, if they even suspected you might be gay you were kicked out. You don't want it repealed, because that would be going back to gays not being allowed in at all. What you want is for the policy to change from DADT to just plain allowing gays to be themselves.
sunoftheskye 7th-May-2009 04:01 pm (UTC)
It's kind of assumed that when you say you're in favor of repealing DADT, you mean not only get rid of/reverse the law itself but change the military policy so that they are allowed to serve openly.
hourglasscreate 7th-May-2009 04:15 pm (UTC)
Back in the day I was living in a nonstandard family(1). I lived in terror that someone would accuse me of being gay. DADT was a great relief to me because that meant that no one could just accuse me of being gay and get me kicked out of the military.

I actually read the policy through when it came out and realized that it was only slightly better than it had been before (a homosexual act was any act that someone else 'perceived' as a homosexual act--that meant that if I walked up to another woman and patted her on the shoulder and someone decided it was a homosexual act, then by definition it was) but at least I had to actually *do* something in order to be accused. Before that, I didn't even have to do anything.

I actually *was* accused by a labor and delivery nurse(2) when I had my daughter. My reaction to that was that I had absolutely *nothing but respect* for a woman who was capable of being interested in sex when she was in labor. She's a better man than I, Gunga Din.



(1) My husband and I lived with another woman.

(2) She was so Christian she couldn't be bothered to check out her accusations before reporting me to my commander.
underfiend 7th-May-2009 09:08 pm (UTC)
(2) Wait, you were giving birth... to a child... and the nurse thought you were gay?

I'm... how... I don't understand.
hey_its_michael 7th-May-2009 04:54 pm (UTC)
You don't want it repealed, because that would be going back to gays not being allowed in at all.

Well, no. The whole point of repealing DADT is to have NO ban on homosexuals serving in our military, like most other Western Military Forces.
erunamiryene 7th-May-2009 05:18 pm (UTC)
This is a good point. And with the military, they wouldn't go FORWARD first, they'd go back to Step One and start over.

At least, that's my experience. Common sense is not a common virtue there.
clevermoniker 7th-May-2009 05:22 pm (UTC)
Nope, not true. Way more LGBT people have been drummed out since DADT than in the many years before.

DADT doesn't allow gays to be in the military, because the mere admission of gaiety gets you kicked out. Hell, diaries have been confiscated and used as proof of homosexuality.

Yeah, gays can be in the military, as long as they pretend to not be gay! Wut. No. DADT is a failure. A big, huge failure.
missmurchison 7th-May-2009 03:59 pm (UTC)
I was so impressed by him when he was last on Rachel's show. He is exactly the kind of person we should be proud to have representing our country.
evilgmbethy 7th-May-2009 05:09 pm (UTC)
Exactly. An honorable man doesn't lie to skirt the rules, which is what the military has asked of its gay service members.
iamcheryltweedy 7th-May-2009 06:36 pm (UTC)
yup
bombazzinedoll 7th-May-2009 04:01 pm (UTC)
I'm surprised it took this long.

Dan Choi has a lot to be proud of.
sib0ney 7th-May-2009 04:08 pm (UTC)
No matter how many times I hear about it, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is every time just as unbelievable. I wonder how long it will take for the Obama administration to get onto it?
sunoftheskye 7th-May-2009 04:09 pm (UTC)
2nd term.
keeni84 7th-May-2009 05:10 pm (UTC)
I'm thinking that, too. Like when the 2nd term hits, he'll go buckwild.
___closetome 7th-May-2009 10:44 pm (UTC)
HUZZAH
art_house_queen 8th-May-2009 01:33 pm (UTC)
I can just imagine 50 years from now some documentary doing an expose on the "Buck Wild" years of the Obama administration. Holla back, bb.
briansue 7th-May-2009 04:41 pm (UTC)
Fucking ridiculous. I can't even put my anger into words beyond that. ARRRRGHH!!
hey_its_michael 7th-May-2009 04:51 pm (UTC)
Your actions negatively affected the good order and discipline of the New York Army National Guard.

Show me how, asshole who wrote this letter.

sunoftheskye 7th-May-2009 04:54 pm (UTC)
The straight men feel uncomfortable and threatened.
hey_its_michael 7th-May-2009 04:55 pm (UTC)
LOL...

That's the thing...most of the polling I have seen show a majority of members of the military no longer individually believe that they should not serve alongside gays and lesbians. It just rings so f'ing hollow when that old excuse about "order and discipline" is trumped out to justify a policy originally enacted out of the ignorance of fear.
evilgmbethy 7th-May-2009 05:08 pm (UTC)
Not even slightly surprised.

But, I really gotta hand it to Lt. Choi. He is a complete and total badass. I hope that this sparks something of a movement.
lisaee 7th-May-2009 05:13 pm (UTC)
How is that legal? I just don't get DADA whatsoever. It makes me especially sad to think that my local Pride always has gay men and women from the army holding stalls and generally being in attendance, whilst in some countries they're not even allowed to serve and be openly gay at the same time. ;__;
erunamiryene 7th-May-2009 05:21 pm (UTC)
Unfortunately, with the way the military has worked in my experience, this would be repealed, and they'd go back to "I THINK you're gay, GTFO." Which they could justify with "lots of people want to enlist, we won't miss you." Military is very fond of starting back at Step One before making progress.

Now, that being said ... I'm always amused how it's like 'OMG GAY GUYS WILL RAPE ME IN A FOXHOLE', but boy are they keen on two chicks. *eyeroll* Except for the one time I decided to screw around with the guys in my shop; they were in this HUGE discussion about how tits are OMG GREATEST THING EVER, and I was like, "Oh, totally! I love how they're all soft and squidgy."

The silence in that shop was AMAZING. I just smiled, walked out, and went to lunch. XD
mylaptopisevil 7th-May-2009 05:32 pm (UTC)
Man I wish saying I was straight counted as heterosexual conduct that way I could have stopped considering myself a virgin before I got to college.

Edited at 2009-05-07 05:33 pm (UTC)
underfiend 7th-May-2009 09:10 pm (UTC)
I'm thinking of having "Non-Practicing Heterosexual" shirts made. Think that'll help? I'll need you to design them, though.
caterfree10 7th-May-2009 05:53 pm (UTC)
Ugh, disgusting. This is why DADT needs to be repealed so that brave men and women from EVERY stripe of life can serve without fear of losing their job.
iamcheryltweedy 7th-May-2009 06:40 pm (UTC)
"A cadet must not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate those who do."

Nowhere does that say "don't be a homo, k." It DOES say "don't lie." Lt. Choi is a credit to West Point and the army as a whole. It's just too bad that they're to prejudiced to realize it.
randomneses 7th-May-2009 07:04 pm (UTC)
NOOOO!
pastbreaknpoint 7th-May-2009 09:59 pm (UTC)
Well. I can certainly say this embarresses me as a member of the New York Army National Gaurd. =/

What a rediculous rule..dadt..
I think its time to quit being "afriad" of homos
"OMG, KEEP THEM AWAY FROM ME!"
Leave a comment
This page was loaded May 23rd 2013, 9:02 am GMT.