According to GetEQUAL’s Twitter feed, six activists including Lt. Dan Choi have chained themselves to the White House fence today in protest of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Here’s a photo. Stay tuned for updates. This marks the second time Choi has chained himself to the fence. On March 18, Choi and another outed military officer, Capt. Jim Pietrangelo were arrested. Choi and Pietrangelo were scheduled to go to trial April 26 for failure to obey a lawful order.
11:45 a.m. Central Time, UPDATE: According to GetEQUAL, the six activists are Choi, Pietrangelo, Petty Officer Larry Whitt, Petty Officer Autumn Sandeen, Cadet Mara Boyd and Cpl. Evelyn Thomas.
11:50 a.m., UPDATE: According to AmericaBLOG, the White House has closed Lafayette Park to stop the media from covering the protest. The activists are still chained to the fence. Here’s a photo:
12:03 p.m., UPDATE: After the jump, the press release from GetEQUAL, including bios of the activists. One of them, Cpl. Evelyn Thomas, reportedly grew up in Texas.
12:12 p.m., UPDATE: All six of the protesters have been removed from the fence and taken away in a paddy wagon. The Huffington Post has a full report. Here’s an excerpt:
“We were here over 30 days ago demanding that the president add repeal language into the Defense Authorization bill,” said Robin McGehee, the co-founder of the organization. “He has not shown leadership to do that as of this time… [And] we don’t believe that you need to be delaying the service members who are suffering under this policy any longer.”
Asked whether Monday and Tuesday’s protest was a harbinger of things to come, McGehee, replied: “Absolutely. In our opinion we need equality all across the United States for all LGBT Americans. Service members are one group of people who are treated unjustly, but there are people who suffer…”
“At our national dinner he said: ‘Pressure me,'” she added. “We’re here to do it, That’s what we’re here to do.”
Here’s the press release from GetEQUAL:
Gay and transgender vets again chain selves to White House gates
WASHINGTON – Moments ago, Lt. Dan Choi along with five other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) discharged veterans — Capt. Jim Pietrangelo II, Petty Officer Larry Whitt, Petty Officer Autumn Sandeen, Cadet Mara Boyd, and Airman Victor Price — handcuffed themselves to the White House gates to demand that President Obama keep his promise to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell this year. The vets are concerned about mounting signs that the President is wavering on his promise to push for repeal this year.
Today’s action comes one month after Choi and Pietrangelo were arrested for a similar DADT protest at the White House in which they handcuffed themselves to the gates for a period of an hour, while hundreds of protesters looked on. The new LGBT activist group, GetEQUAL, coordinated both today’s action, and last month’s civil disobedience.
“We are handcuffing ourselves to the White House gates once again to demand that President Obama show leadership on repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ If the President were serious about keeping his promise to repeal this year, he would put the repeal language in his Defense Authorization budget,” said Choi. “The President gave us an order at the Human Rights Campaign dinner to keep pressure on him and we will continue to return to the White House, in larger numbers, until the President keeps his promise to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ this year.”
Amid growing signs that the White House is wavering on its commitment to repeal DADT this year, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) called on the President last month to publicly state his desire to repeal DADT this year. President Obama has refused to respond, prompting Frank to say last week that he is “disappointed” and “frustrated” with the Obama administration’s silence on DADT. “At this point the President’s refusal to call for repeal this year is a problem,” Frank added, saying that the President’s silence is now costing us votes in the Congress.
Corporal Evelyn Thomas, who participated in today’s action said, “A few weeks ago I saw Lt. Dan Choi take dramatic action at the White House and it made me realize that I needed to do something to stand up for all the Black female soldiers who have been discharged under DADT. Many people don’t know that we Black women are discharged disproportionately more than others under DADT.”
Today’s activities come a day after GetEQUAL activists interrupted President Obama’s speech at a fundraiser in Los Angeles for Senator Barbara Boxer.
The veterans involved were:
Lt. Dan Choi served as an infantry officer with the United States Army in Iraq in 2006-2007. Choi graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and is fluent in Arabic. In June 2008, he transferred from active duty Army to the New York National Guard. After coming out on The Rachel Maddow Show in March 2009, he was notified that the Army had begun discharge proceedings against him. Choi is a founding member of KnightsOut, an organization of West Point alumni that advocates for the rights of gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, and he speaks frequently in support of rights for LGBT members of the military.
Capt. Jim Pietrangelo II, a former infantryman and lawyer originally from Ohio, served in the United States Army until he was discharged in 2004 under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Pietrangelo fought in Iraq in 1991 as an infantryman and returned as a JAG officer for the second Iraq War. As he was readying for a third combat tour, he was honorably discharged for declaring he is gay. Pietrangelo sued the government, charging that the policy is unconstitutional. He appealed to the Supreme Court, but in June
2009, the Supreme Court rejected the case and refused to intervene, at the request of the Obama Administration.
Petty Officer Larry Whitt was born in Barnwell, South Carolina, and grew up in Florida. Fulfilling a lifelong goal, Whitt joined the Navy after high school and served for 12 years. He received the Outstanding Sailor Award aboard the USS Compass Island, was a Sailor of the Month aboard the USS Caloosahatchee, and retired as a Petty Officer First Class. He was stationed with the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pentagon, and received a Joint Service Commendation Medal, two Good Conduct Medals, and a Navy Expeditionary Medal. Whitt was honorably discharged in October 1982, after he requested discharge for fear of being turned in for being gay. Currently, he is the Color Guard Coordinator for the Florida Gold Coast Chapter of American Veterans for Equal Rights in Ft. Lauderdale.
Petty Officer Autumn Sandeen was born in Northridge, California and raised in Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley. Sandeen joined the United States Navy in 1980 as a Fire Controlman. She served on two Guided Missile Fast Frigates as a Mark 92 Fire Control System technician, and one Guided Missile Fast Frigate as a Mark 15 Close-In Weapons System technician. Her last ship was the Third Fleet Command Ship, the USS Coronado, where she served as a Mark 15 Close-In Weapons System technician from 1996 to 2000. She retired after 20 years as Fire Controlman First Class. At the end of 1999 and beginning of 2000, Sandeen was sexually harassed by a subordinate and Executive Officer for being perceived as an effeminate gay male. After retiring from the U.S. Navy, she was awarded a Veteran’s Administration Service Connected Disability rating. She began transitioning as a male-to-female transsexual on February 6, 2003. As a transgender activist, she has worked with many transgender advocacy organizations. She is currently the transgender chair of DOD FedGlobe, and she writes for the blog Pam’s House Blend.
Cadet Mara Boyd, originally from and currently residing in Ann Arbor, Michigan, completed three years in the Air Force ROTC program at the University of Colorado at Boulder and graduated in the top ten percent of her basic training class before she came out as a lesbian to her commander in the fall of 2002 and was honorably discharged under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in June 2003. Before she came out, Boyd held the position in her cadet detachment of Cadet Captain, Character Development Officer, having been nominated by the officer cadre and cadet corps to handle the character development and moral guidance of the entire detachment. Boyd’s ROTC scholarship, which had paid for two years of nonresident tuition, was revoked upon her discharge, and the government demanded that she repay her scholarships and book stipends. Boyd ended up with $30,000 of tuition bills to pay. Boyd returned to UC Boulder and completed her degree, but she is still paying back the scholarship debt.
Airman Victor Price, originally from Asheboro, NC, served as a Bioenvironmental Engineering Specialist with the United States Air Force. During his tour, he obtained a BA in business marketing at Delaware State. A Senior Airman, Price was honorably discharged in 2000 under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
Corporal Evelyn Thomas, who was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Texas, joined the Army National Guard and then the U.S. Marine Corps. She served at Camp Pendleton for four years until another Marine found a letter in her locker about her relationship with a woman. She was then honorably discharged in 1991. In October 2009, Thomas founded a ministry for gays in the military who fear they may be discharged for speaking openly to base chaplains about their sexuality. The Sanctuary Project Veterans is a ministry of Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad, CA, and it provides a safe haven, support, legal advice, and services for soldiers harassed due to the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy.
I <3 it
Good for them….!
Obama made the promises, collected GLBT checks, cashed them, won the election, and now – two years after the promises were made – promises to “move in that direction” “in a year or so.”
Bullshit. Dem or Rep, you don’t treat your supporters that way. Claiming that Congress has to repeal the law is a dodge for cover. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of ways that the Commander-in-Chief can affect what the military does. For example, the military had to come up with regulations in order to enforce the odious DADT. Those regulations can be changed. The priorities of JAG’s can change. The financing for the expulsion of GLBT people can change.
In other words, Obama could have made HUGE progress in this area already — using the powers he already holds. AND, it is vital to national security to keep some of the people being expelled, like Arab linguists for one example. But no. Sadly no.
He needs to keep his promises and we need to hold him accountable. If he wants to go wobbly, then this is what happens.
My next check goes to GetEQUAL, not Obama.
LGBT Heroes. We all owe them a debt of gratitude, at the least.
I served in the Army, in Desert Storm with other gays and lesbians. It’s time we were treated equally, as we have served equally.
Reporters covering the protest were forced (by authorities) to leave: https://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0410/Most_transparent_White_House_ever.html#comments
So where was the HRC while this was happening? White House closes Lafayette Park to stop the media from covering the protest. WOW Shame on the US Military! Shame on the US Government! Shame on President Obama!
I don’t care what your opinion of DADT is, you don’t protest in uniform. It’s not only illegal but unprofessional. These individuals should have never been in the military to begin with.
Brad: you part right but only with Choi. The others are no longer active so it is not in fact illegal. I also do not think it was right for them to use their uniforms but the regs state that once out of service members may wear there old uniform of the last srvice they served with to appropreate events but even if someone violated there is no provision for punishment it is basically voluntary. Also, wearing the uniform one served in does not violate the stolen act.
Choi on the otherhand is still National Guard so he broke the UCMJ big time.
Re: Brad… Maybe protesting in uniform is illegal and unprofessional and crossing the line but often you have to cross the line to get a point across.
It should not have been done in uniform. Do we want others protesting the lifting of the ban in front of the Whitehouse, while in uniform? Uniformed members protesting congress because of abortions?..
OohRah !! It’s about damn time we get some recognition for defending this screwed up country.
Take that you FAG haters and remember if it wasn’t for the invisible fags in the service protecting your sorry ass, you and the other haters might not be here…
OOH RAH !!
The people arrested are self-serving, self-indulged, selfish and self made martyrs. They’re more concerned about building their own fame and fortune than they are LGBT equality. This isn’t a protest, this is an act of “hey, look at me, I’m on TV”.
@ Christopher…good, waste your money. We’ll see how much progress and change that organization really brings to the LGBT community. Like him or not, President Obama HAS done more to advance LGBT rights than any other elected official in history.
I’m so sick of all this crying and whining about how everything should happen now.
Do you think the Civil Rights Movement was something that happened in the 1960’s? WRONG…it’s still going on today. Racial bigotry and discrimination is something the President of the US experiences on a daily basis.
Change takes time, and if you don’t have time to wait for it, I suggest you move to Uganda!
@Witch 8:42,
It’s “Hoo rah!” But thanks for being “here.”
@Jamse Hipps 9:03
Self-serving? You mean like your pathetic Alinsky-rote ad hominem drivel?
Some change takes time. This one didn’t have to, nor does it have to. President Obama doesn’t get my vote in 2012. Deal with it.