Why Is Obama Firing Dan Choi?

"I don't know why President Barack Obama is firing me, I want to do my job, I want to do my duty," Lt. Dan Choi recently wondered aloud while waiting to go off to an event on 9/11. This 28-year-old Korean American was at Ground Zero on this Sept. 11, a long way away from his native Anaheim, CA but just miles from where he found himself on Sept. 11, 2001.

I was talking to Choi for a cover feature in the Orange County and Long Beach Blade for part of their National Coming Out Day issue.

My conversation with him came to mind again while at Politifact.com and noticing that one of the 330 promises President Obama hasn't gotten to yet is the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Like everything else in this country, it appears to be slow-tracked on the priority list, with Americans ready and willing to serve being asked to leave. Americans like Choi.

"I was at West Point on Sept. 11, 2001," he recalled, having gone there after graduating from Tustin High School in Tustin, CA. "We thought we were going to get hit, that we were a target. I remember someone left a message on a phone machine and they thought it was in Arabic. I was one of the very few that was even studying Arabic, so I translated it. I was so nervous but it turned out to be just someone leaving a simple message for a cadet," he said with anxiety and frustration in his voice.

Yes, Choi was in West Point prior to Sept. 11, 2001. He is the son of a Korean immigrant, a conservative man who himself served in his country's military.

"I was born in Orange County, CA to a Southern Baptist minister and his wife, a nurse, who came from South Korea, so coming out was simply not on my mind," he said with a mixture of sincerity but a true sense for the eventual irony of it all. "Gay, straight, I didn't know or care, my only formidable relationship was to be the military in my mind, service to my country and making my family proud," he reflected.

Serve his country he did (and does). After graduating with the class of 2003 with an Arabic Language and Environmental Engineering Degree, well, the bio on his website tracks his journey best: Attended Infantry Officer Basic (Ft. Benning, GA), Airborne, Air Assault, Ranger, Scout Leader Courses. Served as platoon leader, company executive officer, battalion and brigade staff officer, Iraqi Arabic language instructor, civil-military and reconstruction engineer serving in 10th Mountain Division (Ft. Drum, NY) and South Baghdad, Iraq (مثلث الموت The Triangle of Death). Infantry platoon leader in New York Army National Guard. Student at Harvard University Extension School.

Any resumé with a deployment to the "Triangle of Death" on it would seem to meet any true-blooded American's standard for patriotic service to one's country. Choi provided a crucial bridge to the language barrier experienced by countless troops in Iraq; a barrier that has cost both American and Iraqi lives through misunderstanding and inability to communicate. Upon return he jumped right in to more training for future deployments, learning and advancing as fast as he could. But his service and forward motion would all come crashing down when the institution he pledged his service to would seek to expel him. His crime? Living up to one code while breaking another policy.

"The military has a very specific code, and we take that very seriously at West Point. That code tells me that I must be honest, that to lie to a superior, to a fellow brother soldier, to my country or to myself dishonors me and my country," he recalled with pride in his voice.

"I had never thought about being out, or coming out. But once I met someone and began understanding what a real relationship meant, what caring for someone in an open, honest and loving way was really all about, the idea of being asked to conceal that seemed a violation of the very code I swore to uphold."

As part of his coming out process, Choi began talking to other West Point graduates who were also gay and this led to him founding Knights Out GLBT Graduates of West Point.

"We put out a press release about the group, and a few of the blogs picked it up. Then, the producers of the Rachel Maddow show called and asked if I'd be on the March 19, 2009 show. I said I would not thinking it was that big of a deal. I didn't watch cable news, I was too busy being a soldier and thought that was the way it was.

"I did the show, and on it I stated 'I am gay.' Right then we had technical problems and my sound went out. It was like a big plot, like I had been cut off. I hadn't been, but they brought me back on the next day. There were a lot more viewers and I didn't know it at the time but it's turned out to be a very big deal," he said.

The coming out process is a complex and unique experience. There's no roadmap, no time frame. For Choi it happened in his late 20's, and took the catalyst of a relationship. But why come out in the military?

"Don't ask, don't tell presents the ultimate rebuking of all the honor principals we are taught. It says in order to serve you must lie, in order to be out front, you must hide. It goes against the very ethics on which the military is built, on which it relies," he stated.

"After the show I was warned by my GLBT friends to watch my back. I couldn't believe it, they were truly afraid for me. But everyone in my division, my subordinates and superiors were fine. Those that saw it said they supported me and even those who didn't, once they found out welcomed the honesty and spoke of the ridiculousness of the policy. Time passed and I thought it was not going to be an issue. Then, I got a letter that the Army was offended enough to fire me, to kick me out. Not my division, but the entire Army over us. It was amazing," he recalled.

Of course, coming out to his family was equally as challenging.

"I came out to my family in January of this year, so it's all still very new. There's been a lot of challenges with my family but it's a process. I'm still not that comfortable in the community. When I was in Orange County I sang with the Gay Men's Chorus and that was incredible but a little odd at first. And the gay bar scene and that, well, it's all very new to me," he added.

Professionally the Army told Choi he could go away and probably be honorably discharged or he could fight. Being a soldier, he chose the latter.

"I remember I spoke Arabic at my hearing, after presenting petitions signed by thousands of supporters and letters from my superiors and subordinates supporting me. They had to ask for a translator, a translation, and that proved my point. I told them, 'Before I came in to this hearing I saw a sign that says no soldier stands alone, and that's why I'm here, I'm trying to make sure my brothers and sisters in Iraq and other places are not alone, why won't you let me?'"

His poignant point fell on deaf ears and while as of this writing he is still an active soldier, he has been recommended for discharge, something the Commander in Chief could halt.

"Barack Obama is my Commander in Chief and as such could do what he wants in this case. He says he's against the policy. Then why is he firing me? He could stop this, for me, and the thousands like me. Each time a member of the GLBT community is discharged, we get rid of them just as Al Quaeda on the battle field or any other enemy would. They can no longer serve their nation, their country, and it's such a waste. Obama should stop this, now."

While he's using his new found fame to raise awareness to the policy it's his honesty and love of the code of honor that drove him to come out in a very public way: a way for which he has paid a price.

"But if this is what it takes to make sure the Democrats get rid of this ridiculous policy that robs our military of much needed, talented men and women then so be it. I never intended it to be this way, but now, I can't imagine being anything but honest about who I am and can't fathom a military that would want me to be anything less."

To read more about coming out stories go to the Orange County Blade

To hear the interview with Choi or other Karel Show Interviews, Go to the Podcast

 

 

Follow Charles Karel Bouley on Twitter: www.twitter.com/talkradiolive

Comments

[Trinity718]

Choi is a brave, honest and intelligent man. Best of luck to you.