Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Lt. Daniel Choi Brings His Protest to the West Coast

In March this year, Lt. Daniel Choi, a West Point graduate and Iraq veteran fluent in Arabic, announced that he was gay on The Rachel Maddow Show. Less than one month later, the U.S. Army declared it would initiate discharge proceedings against him for violating “Don't Ask, Don't Tell.” Choi vowed to fight the discharge. Since then he has appeared on the The Colbert Report, Anderson Cooper 360, ABC News, and elsewhere, seeking a change to the controversial Army policy.

On Tuesday, Nov. 10, a day before Veterans Day, Lt. Daniel Choi will give a talk at University of Puget Sound titled “Truth and Consequences: One Man’s Fight to Openly Serve His Country.” The free lecture, starting at 7 p.m., is open to the public and will be held in Rasmussen Rotunda in Wheelock Student Center.

Choi served for a decade under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a policy that requires gay American soldiers to hide their sexual orientation and forces others to tolerate the deception. Choi helped form Knights Out, an organization of West Point alumni advocating for the rights of gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. He says the Army policy is opposed to all he learned at West Point about honesty and integrity, and that it leads to feelings of isolation among soldiers fighting in dangerous circumstances.

Choi was born in Orange County, Calif. A first-generation American, his parents emigrated from Korea and founded a church. He resides in New York, and has become a full-time activist for the lesbian, gay, and transgender community.

The event is sponsored by Diversity Theme Year and ASUPS Lectures.

For directions and a map of the campus: www.pugetsound.edu/directions.xml 

Press-quality photos of Lt. Daniel Choi are available on request.