Lt. Dan Choi Arrested at White House, Protesting Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

By Channing Kennedy Mar 18, 2010

Breaking news at AMERICABlog: Following an appearance this morning at a Human Rights Campaign rally in Washington, D.C., Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo proceeded to the White House and handcuffed themselves to the front gate to protest the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, and Obama’s failure to yet deliver on his promise to repeal it. They brought with them from the rally a supportive, chanting crowd. AMERICABlog’s Joe Sudbay reports that as of 1:53PM, both Lt. Choi and Capt. Pietrangelo have been arrested and taken away. Check out ColorLines’ September 2009 featured interview with Lt. Choi following his discharge from the military, in which he discusses his life as a gay man of color in the military, and as the public face of the DADT repeal movement. From the interview:

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.”

photo credit: Pam Spaulding, Pam’s House Blend