Dan Choi On Trial For 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' White House Protest

WASHINGTON — A gay former Army lieutenant arrested for handcuffing himself to a White House fence during a protest is being treated differently because he is a prominent voice for gay rights, his lawyer said Monday.

Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and Iraq War veteran, is charged with disobeying police orders to leave an area in front of the White House during a November 2010 protest of the military's "don't ask, don't tell policy." During the protest, 13 people handcuffed themselves to the fence, some in uniform, chanting slogans including "let us serve."

Choi's attorney Robert Feldman said Monday at the start of his trial in federal court in Washington that people arrested for protesting at the White House are usually charged in local court where the penalty for disobeying a police order is a fine of between $100 and $1,000. But Choi was charged in federal court, where he faces both a fine and jail time of up to six months.

"They want him to go away," Feldman said, suggesting that bringing more serious charges is a move to get Choi to be silent. "He is the gay man who is finally attracting the attention."

Twelve other demonstrators arrested with Choi previously accepted deal with prosecutors, agreeing to plead guilty in federal court but serve no jail time if they were not re-arrested within four months. Feldman said his client rejected a similar plea deal prosecutors offered Friday, though he would not have had to plead guilty.

Choi, who was discharged from the military in 2003 for being gay, said Monday he never considered taking the deal.

His lawyer planned to argue that Choi is not guilty because he couldn't hear police warnings to leave owing to other crowd noise; Choi also was warned to get off the sidewalk and not the short fence wall he was standing on.

During testimony Monday, prosecutor Angela George questioned several officers involved in the arrests. They testified tjat they heard three warnings given protesters by an officer using a police cruiser's loudspeaker. Officers testified, however, that Choi's case was unusual in that it had been brought in federal court.

Before November, Choi was arrested in March and April 2010 for similar protests, but prosecutors dismissed the charges against him on those occasions.

Choi acknowledged Monday that the cause he was protesting in November is now moot. President Barack Obama put an end to the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy in July. As of Sept. 20, gay service members will be able to acknowledge their sexual orientation openly.

Comments

[Timothy Stuckey]

09:19 PM on 08/30/2011

This man deserves exactly what he gets. His a war veteran and served his country. I will not take that away from him. The problem is, he was kicked out for being in violation of military policy. This protest took place while DADT was still being debated. I do understand the freedom of speech and freedom to protest, but those do not surpass the fact that he was impersonating a military officer by wearing the uniform that he no longer retains the right to wear. He knows he is wrong and is just looking for publicity for his cause. There are ways to protest peacefully without breaking laws, not practicing civil disobedience.

[Steamboater]

02:16 AM on 08/31/2011

Military policy that was so honorable that it required service members to lie., and then even skirted around the DADT policy to throw Gay men and woman out of the military . Such an honorable bunch.

[dblohangel]

05:20 PM on 09/20/2011

@Timothy Stuckey...Ah...civil disobedience is breaking the law...peaceably, without histility. That's the civil part of the act. *smh!*

[toocoolfoschool1234]

05:46 PM on 08/30/2011

What a terrible way to treat a veteran of the Iraq war.

[fitzroya]

04:06 PM on 08/30/2011

A person's sex, sexual tendency or preference has no bearing on quality of job performance. Discrimination based on sex is illegal, as it should be for discrimination for sexual tendency. People are born as they are, and with what they have. Promiscuity is not limited to gender or sexual tendency. Conduct during intimacy is no business of any employer, government, military, school, church or authority. Its ironic, hypocritical, and unacceptable that the most vocal advocates for reduction of government intrusion into states rights and individual lives also advocate for government law, intrusion, regulation and control of some individuals' most private and intimate matters.

[Folk Hero]

03:54 PM on 08/30/2011

It is absolutely embarrassing and heartbreaking to see the way they are dragging away Choi in this photo. He put his life on the line for our country, and this is the way he is being treated. It is shameful!

[StevenevetS]

03:39 PM on 08/30/2011

Dan Choi will be in history books as a hero.

And rightfully so!

[Milosovich]

02:45 PM on 08/30/2011

"The most dangerous place to stand is between Dan Choi and a TV camera."

hahaha, that's a good one!

[pavementends42]

02:37 PM on 08/30/2011

Yeah, that's great. Westboro Baptist Church gets protected protests against equality, while Choi faces charges and possible jail time. So, is that "ignoring police orders" and trespassing are now federal crimes?! Or, is it more likely they just don't like their own uniformed military protesting federal policy on the steps of the White House? Seems like it could look pretty bad, especially over a civil rights issue, which the US pats itself on the back for in the global arena on the daily....

[wyldthings]

02:31 PM on 08/30/2011

I have a great amount of Respect for Dan Choi. He went to Russia so he walks the walk. But I don't quite understand what he wants now! He has a former Officer should understand that all Military changes take time to be effective. Those that want immediate change are asking for trouble. The Bill has been passed and the Military will follow the orders.

[Melissa Sarra]

02:13 PM on 08/30/2011

the more I keep reading on this topic..the more it sounds like a labratory for doomed sexual/social experiment..All we non politicians can do is keep calling our Senators...

[Veganie]

02:08 PM on 08/30/2011

Considering what the Army had done to him, it would not be easy to forget, he has a right to protest

[Veganie]

01:51 PM on 08/30/2011

We have a gay cousin he likes to eat, drink and be Mary.

[DevonTexas]

01:24 PM on 08/30/2011

"Congress shall make no law... ...the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"

So, based on this from the First Amendment, how can a police officer "order" someone to stop protesting or assembling to petition the Government? Dan Choi is an American Hero.

[timzilla]

01:20 PM on 08/30/2011

Choi and his fellow protesters were charged in federal court and not in local court which is so unusual that a 22-year Park Police veteran said Choi's case was the first time he was ever in federal court to testify. The judge has also admitted video evidence of another iconic demonstration on May 1, 2011 celebrating the killing of Osama Bin Laden: a non-permitted spontaneous rally for which no demonstrators were told to disperse or were arrested according to the evidence. Choi has a very valid point about selective enforcement of the law for political reasons. They obviously wanted to make an example of Choi and establishing the inequality in enforcing the law and charging those that break is noble reason to go to trial.

[tpcinaz]

01:20 PM on 08/30/2011

Dan Choi is the modern day Rosa Parks.

Hang in there Dan...your message is being heard.

[Jennifer Mead]

01:10 PM on 08/30/2011

It does sound like he is being made an example of, as well as the other activists that were arrested. If everyone who had ever been hand cuffed to the fence was charged in federal court I would not say this. It is obvious. Just more compassion from Obama's administration.