|
Cover Guys Dan Choi & Victor Fehrenbach take center stage and represent our 20 Leading Men of 2009 honorees.
Lieutenant Dan Choi: The Unconventional Activist
I first met Lieutenant Dan Choi in a crowded bar in Chelsea. It was Democratic primary night in New York City, and he was on hand to help celebrate Councilwoman Christine Quinn’s victory. Dan had spent the earlier part of his day on city street corners, passing out literature for Quinn’s campaign, and I asked him why he had spent his time helping the speaker of the New York City Council—a post that has no bearing on gays in the military. “Christine Quinn lobbied Governor Paterson to keep me in the National Guard, so I think we should reward her and reward the governor,” he told me. But neither help from Albany nor a stop-loss order from the White House materialized, and Dan’s separation from the military marched on.
Most know the basics of Dan’s story: A West Point graduate with a degree in Arabic who served an extended tour in Iraq from 2006-2007, Dan spent 10 years in the military before he was discharged. But Dan is trying to be more than Mr. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He envisions gay rights activism—and he takes pains to note that being labeled an “activist” is something he’s only recently become comfortable with—as an “in-the-streets, egalitarian affair. Out of the cocktail parties and knocking on anti-gay congressmen’s doors!” he asserts. Article continues below... 
Lieutenant Colonel Victor Fehrenbach: The Proud Pilot
Lieutenant Colonel Victor Fehrenbach is still a member of the United States Air Force, and he would like things to stay that way. But after 18 years of service as a decorated pilot (he’s won nine Air Medals, including one for heroism), Victor’s future in the military is uncertain at best.
In May 2009, Victor faced a dilemma. He was being kicked out of the military for admitting to civilian investigators a year earlier that he had had sex with a man. At first he decided to go along with the discharge, but then he had a change of heart. “The military was taking everything away from me, but the one thing I realized they couldn’t take from me is my sense of right and wrong,” he says. So he decided not only to fight the discharge but to go public with his case on The Rachel Maddow Show. With the exception of the few officers handling his case, no one else on his base knew he was being separated from the military for being gay until he was on MSNBC. Chuckling, he says, “It certainly created quite a stir.”
A “stir” might be an understatement. At 40, Victor has become one of the most visible faces of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, while still fighting to retain his career and pension—courage and conviction that make a leading man.
For more on Victor and Dan, and the stories behind this year's Leading Men (including all 20 honorees) be sure to pick up the November 2009 issue of Instinct Magazine.
 |
