Six Arrested at Most Recent Anti-DADT White House Protest
A weekend protest in Washington, D.C. led to the arrest of six more anti-Don't Ask, Don't Tell demonstrators who handcuffed themselves to the fence in front of the White House.
The arrests occurred during a rally that was sparked by a development late in the afternoon of Friday, April 30, when a letter from Department of Defense secretary Robert Gates, written in response to a missive from House Armed Services Committee chairman Ike Skelton, answered Skelton's question about Gates' view on repealing the military's 17-year-old anti-gay policy that forbids service by openly gat or lesbian troops. Gates wrote back that Congress should hold off on any action until a yearlong review process is complete, warning that to rush a repeal through "would send a very damaging message to our men and women in uniform that in essence their views, concerns, and perspectives do not matter."
It was Gates, together with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, who told Congress earlier this year that the time had come for the anti-gay ban to be re-examined.
The White House went into full media mode Friday evening, with a spokesperson telling Advocate.com that, "The President's commitment to repealing 'don't ask, don't tell' is unequivocal." Added the White House, "This is not a question of if, but how. That's why we've said that the implementation of any congressional repeal will be delayed until the [Department of Defense] study of how best to implement that repeal is completed. The President is committed to getting this done both soon and right."
One of President Obama's key promises as a candidate was to work for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but that promise--like others made to the GLBT community, such as repealing the 1996 anti-family federal law DOMA, the so-call "Defense of Marriage" Act--seems to have been relegated to the back burner as the administration has pursued other legislative goals. In Obama's first year, health care reform was a major focus; now, the administration's efforts have largely shifted to financial reform in an attempt to reign in abuses in the financial sector that crashed the economy late in then-President Bush's term of office.
With the leaking of that letter--which a May 3 Metroweekly article suggests was calculated by the anti-repeal side--Congressional support for action at some point this year has reportedly weakened, and if Democrats lose their lead in the midterm elections, the issue of gay troops serving openly could provide the sort of easy political fodder that will doom repeal for years to come, media sources said.
"If the White House and the Department of Defense had been more engaged with us and had communicated with us better about the alternatives available, Secretary Gates would surely not feel that legislative action this year would disrespect the opinions of the troops or negatively impact them and their families," the executive director of Servicemembers United, Alex Nicholson, stated.
On Sunday, May 2, a rally for DADT's repeal took place near the White House. Lt. Dan Choi, who has twice recently handcuffed himself to the fence outside the White House and been arrested, spoke to the crowd as six people in civilian clothing handcuffed themselves, as Choi, former Capt. Jim Pietrangelo II, and four gay and lesbian vets had done before them. Advocate.com identified the individuals as Alan Bounville, Nora Camp, Natasha Dillon, Iana Dibona, Mark Reed, and Anne Tischer.
Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean was also at the rally. Dean said that Sen. Carl Levin had the votes he needed to attach legislation to overturn DADT to a defense spending bill. "That is the right thing to do for America and I want to thank Senator Levin for his courage," said Dean.
"Senator Levin's amendment, in fact, does what the secretary asked for in the secretary's testimony," added Dean. "There is a schedule for implementation... I think there's about a year for implementation, so the implementation is gradual, which is what the secretary asked for."
Advocate.com reported that Levin may be up to three or more votes shy of the support he needs, however, and the leaked letter may have cost him some support for the defense authorization amendment.
Aubrey Sarvis, the executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which offers support to gay and lesbian soldiers, took issue with the claim from the White House that the president is an "unequivocal" supporter of ending DADT. Sarvis said the White House response was "nothing if not equivocal," adding, "There is a stark and not very flattering contrast here between President Obama, who follows his military, and President Truman, whose military followed him," Advocate.com reported.
This marks the third time in three months that anti-DADT protestors have handcuffed themselves to the fence. The first time was in March, when Choi and Pietrangelo carried out the act of civil disobedience after Choi addressed a crowd at a Human Rights Campaign-organized rally in Freedom Park. Though Choi invited the president of HRC, Joe Solmonese, to accompany him to the White House after the rally, Solmonese did not do so; Choi and Pietrangelo's action sparked controversy, with some saying that the act of civil disobedience went too far, while others criticized the HRC for not being proactive enough.
The second such action took place in April, when Choi and Pietrangelo were joined by four others in handcuffing themselves to the fence.
The May 2 rally was put together by several groups, including GetEqual, which had played a role in the earlier civil disobedience actions, Members of GetEqual also heckled Obama as he gave a speech at a fundraiser for California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer on April 19.
A May 2 Dallas Voice article said that Reed is from Dallas, and relayed a text that had been sent from Reed's cell phone: "He was proud when they took him away! Even happier when they let him keep his cigarettes." The six were due in court on the morning of May 3.