Choi, More Gay Troops Resort to Further Civil Disobedience
A month after Lt. Dan Choi and former Army Capt. Jim Pietrangelo II handcuffed themselves to the fence in front of the White House in a controversial act of civil disobedience, the two gay soldiers went back and repeated the act. This time, they brought along a few friends.
Lt. Choi and Capt. Pietrangelo were joined on April 20 by Petty Officer Larry Whitt, Petty Officer Autumn Sandeen, Cadet Mara Boyd, and Cpl. Evelyn Thomas, reported GLBT servicemember advocacy group GetEQUAL in a press release from the same day. The protest took place a day after GetEQUAL members heckled President Obama at a fundraiser for incumbent California senator Barbara Boxer.
"We stand here as an absolute, unequivocal statement," Choi said as he and the others stood handcuffed to the fence. "We call on the Commander in Chief, the President of the United States, to take full action to show firm resolve and real leadership in his promise to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' " [DADT], the unofficial name for the ban on openly gay troops.
According to the release, participants in the April 20 action "are concerned about mounting signs that the President is wavering on his promise to push for repeal [of the military's ban on openly GLBT troops] this year." The release noted that GetEQUAL had coordinated both instances in which activists had handcuffed themselves to the fence.
Last month's act of civil disobedience by Choi and Pietrangelo followed a rally at Washington, D.C.'s Freedom Park. Choi spoke at that rally, and invited the president of the Human Rights Campaign [HRC], Joe Solmonese, and the HRC's celebrity guest speaker, Kathy Griffin, to join him as he headed to White House. Solmonese. Neither Solmonese nor Griffin accompanied Choi to the White House; the HRC came in for criticism by those who feel that the organization, the largest GLBT lobbying group in the nation, was too focused on celebrities. Others, however, questioned whether acts of civil disobedience by GLBT equality activists are appropriate.
"We are handcuffing ourselves to the White House gates once again to demand that President Obama show leadership on repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' " said Lt. Choi of the April 20 action. "If the President were serious about keeping his promise to repeal this year, he would put the repeal language in his Defense Authorization budget," Choi continued, adding, "The President gave us an order at the Human Rights Campaign dinner to keep pressure on him and we will continue to return to the White House, in larger numbers, until the President keeps his promise to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' this year."
"A few weeks ago I saw Lt. Dan Choi take dramatic action at the White House and it made me realize that I needed to do something to stand up for all the Black female soldiers who have been discharged under DADT," said Cpl. Evelyn Thomas. "Many people don't know that we Black women are discharged disproportionately more than others under DADT."
Openly gay Massachusetts senator Barney Frank also called on Obama to heighten his efforts to abolish the 17-year-old ban on openly gay troops. Under the current law, GLBT Americans are allowed to serve only if they keep quiet about their sexual orientation. If they speak up, however, they are liable to be discharged from the service. Said Frank, "At this point the President's refusal to call for repeal this year is a problem." Frank also opined that Obama's failure to promote repeal of DADT had led to less Congressional support for the end of the policy.
GetEQUAL also issued an April 21 press release detailing that the six veterans who were arrested would be arraigned starting at 2:00 p.m. that same day, and would tentatively be available for media interviews after that. However, the media had come in for unfriendly treatment by U.S. Park Police officers during the April 20 civil disobedience. When officers began arresting the seven protestors who had handcuffed themselves to the White House fence, reporters were forced from the scene and Lafayette Park was closed, reported Politico in an April 20 story. A video posted at the site shows a uniformed officer ordering reporters "Back up!" and telling them, "Park's closed!"
"It's one thing to push the public back, but not to let the media film is just ridiculous," a reporter can be heard saying into his cell phone on the video. As the reporter speaks, he and others from the media can be seen retreating before the same uniformed officer, who herded the media all the way across Lafayette Park, which is adjacent to the White House.
"That was strictly the U.S. Parks Police that screwed up--that has nothing to do with the Secret Service of the White House or the Administration," David Schlosser, a spokesperson for the U.S. Park Police, told Politico. "We had some young officers who, when they were told to move the people back--which we typically do when we're going to make arrests--they moved the people back a lot further than we typically do. That was a rookie, amateur error and they screwed up on that."
An April 20 Mediaite article also reported on the officers having pushed members of the media back as the arrests were taking place. Mediaite reported that the press was allowed back near the scene once a CBS correspondent, Mark Knoller, spoke with a U.S, Park Police officer. "At first the officer refused, saying it was US Park Police procedure," Knoller told Mediaite. "I asked him to contact his superior so I might deliver my objection higher up the chain of the command. And within a few minutes, after he made a cell phone call, he escorted credential press right to the fence line. I thanked the officer for his effort on our behalf." Mediaite confirmed that the Secret Service had played no part in the media's treatment by the officers, and noted that members of the White House press were also forced to move away from the scene.