Lt. Dan Choi appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show last night to discuss being officially discharged from the military, for, cosmically, coming out on her show a year ago.
All has apparently been made official now. According to Newsweek:
“I got a call about five minutes ago, and my commander said he wanted me to hear it directly from him. He was very supportive and said, ‘I know this was something you didn’t want to hear.’ I said to him, ‘Thank you for your leadership.’ He’s been nothing but supportive of me throughout this whole journey.” Choi says his commander told him it was clear that “change was in the air,” and inquired as to his personal well-being. “He’s always been kind enough to ask me how I was doing, whenever we had calls or legal proceedings to go over.” Choi says he was told he had received an honorable discharge, and was awaiting the arrival of official documents shortly. “This doesn’t change the foundation of what I’m doing. A piece of paper doesn’t define my worth or honor, and we have a lot more work to do.” He spoke to Nesweek by phone from Las Vegas, where he was recently arrested in a DADT protest action.
Update:
Dan just took to the all-might media machine (Twitter) and had this to say:
"No, I have not seen any discharge papers. When/if they come, I'll show and tell."
News has just come out that Army Lt. Dan Choi was discharged from the military on June 29, though the actions were not made public and Dan made no official comment. Lately, Dan has been more known for his activism (and arrests, including yesterday's in Las Vegas), but he has long been an outspoken opponent of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," as he was on our cover last year.
Gay City News reports: "Choi lost his battle with the Pentagon on June 29 when his discharge from the Army under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was finalized. While Choi’s National Guard unit informed him by registered mail and with phone messages, he has not disclosed the action. He did not respond to an email seeking comment."
Comments (3)
... written by cherrychapstick,
July 21, 2010
I thought they had halted the discharges? Or at least slowed down the investigations?
-1
... written by R L Pete Housman,
July 21, 2010
They might have completed the action on June 29 - but this was decided the first day he went public. They can terminate his employment they cannot still his voice......and our voices supporting him and the cause to end discrimination of Federal and State employees under DADT.
