Dan Choi on becoming the public face for the fight against DADT policies

September 3, 2009

Dan Choi had been warned that the Army would be tough.

As he prepared to enter the prestigious United States Military Academy at West Point in 1999, his older brother, who was well-meaning but lacked military experience at the time, told Choi he’d encounter people who were going to give him a hard time for being Asian.

A first-generation Korean-American, Choi, who jokes that he doesn’t wear his race on his sleeve, but on his face, didn’t tell his brother he was also gay. He kept his sexual orientation a secret until as late as last spring, when he came out on The Rachel Maddow Show, publicly challenging the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy banning gays from serving openly.

Soon after his announcement, Choi received a letter of dismissal from the Army on the grounds that disclosing homosexuality “constitutes homosexual conduct.”

More than 12,000 soldiers have been discharged under this policy, which has been in place since 1993, and this past summer, a June 30 hearing of National Guard officers recommended that Lt. Dan Choi be likewise discharged. A final decision has still not been issued.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has agreed to hold a hearing this fall on whether to repeal the policy, but until that happens Choi plans on continuing his fight for gay rights. He has spoken out at rallies across the country and will take part in the National Equality March in Washington, D.C., on October 11.   

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During his decade-long military career, Choi, now 28 and a U.S. Army First Lieutenant, says he’s put up with the occasional, racially-motivated comment. Determined to keep a sense of humor about it, he has a few jokes of his own.

“Whenever I’m driving a Humvee, I tell everyone to buckle up twice,” Choi says. “We might be good at math but we’re not so good at driving.”

Jokes aside, Choi claims that it’s been harder to be Asian than to be gay in the military.

Growing up, Choi wanted to be nothing less than the best in all of his pursuits. As a high school senior in Orange County, California, he was student body president, a swimmer on the varsity team, a drum major for the marching band, and a participant in community activities.

It’s no wonder that Choi was drawn to a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces whose motto was once “Be All That You Can Be.”

As the son of immigrant parents who lived through the Korean War, however, joining the military wasn’t easy. “My mom was a war orphan,” explains Choi. “She did not want me going to West Point.”

When he first arrived at the academy the summer of ‘99, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” had been in place for six years. An officer counseled incoming cadets on the official policy.

Choi put all sexual thoughts out of his mind, one of the “benefits,” he says, of being raised in an ultra-conservative, Christian family, with a Baptist Minister father.

“They always said ‘No Sex Before Marriage! No Sex Before Marriage!’ and I was like, well, that’s easy.”

Choi focused on the rigorous physical and academic program at the academy. And, as part of his mandatory foreign-language requirement, he chose to challenge himself instead of going along with what everyone else was doing.

“All the other Korean cadets, and all the other Asian cadets were trying to take Chinese,” he explains. “I was very interested in one day visiting the holy land and pursing, perhaps, a career in the clergy, in religious and spiritual leadership, like my dad.”

He decided on Arabic, and when he graduated from West Point in 2003, Choi was one of a handful of classmates who had completed this course of study. In national proficiency tests Choi earned the top score.

Being gay, Choi believes, gave him the edge in learning a language.

“Knowing that you are different … gives you this empathy for people that are different from you. And, regardless of what race you are, it allows you to have compassion. And those things are so important to learning a language.”