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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Ask & Tell - Until DADT Is Overturned

Driving home tonight, listening to the wild and wooly Boston Red Sox game on the radio, I was certain it would become the topic of this post. But when I arrived home I read the disappointing news about First Lieutenant Daniel Choi. As I mentioned the other day, Lt. Choi, an infantry platoon leader in the Iraq War and an Arabic linguist, was facing discharge from the military because he publicly acknowledged he is gay. This statement of truth is in violation of the wrongheaded Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy (DADT). Unfortunately, the panel of New York National Guard officers today recommended Lt. Choi be discharged from the Army because he violated DADT. The recommendation must go up the chain of command, but as of this writing there is no firm deadline for that final decision.

I am asking everyone to contact the White House to urge President Obama to sign an executive order halting all “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) discharges while the policy is under review.

Here’s how to do it:

Via the Internet: Click here to send an e-mail.

Via Telephone:
Comments: 202-456-1111

Switchboard: 202-456-1414

FAX: 202-456-2461

Via TTY/TDD:
Comments: 202-456-6213


Via Postal Service:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Via Twitter: Use the address @BarackObama and @whitehouse (both of these are verified accounts)

Thank you.

: : UPDATE: You can click on this link to go to the Courage Campaign website and sign a letter to Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, urging the repeal of DADT.

2 comments:

Irene said...

This has been so discriminatory and it makes me sad because an upstanding soldier has been discharged just because he is gay and let everyone know. I've been on the e-mailing list for a while and have sent comments to the appropriate people.

Thanks so much for posting about this. I can't believe this is still happening now. It's not 1950!

Pink Granite said...

Hi Irene -
I can't believe we're still on this topic either! With so much support to repeal DADT from the public and leaders in the administration in agreement, I cannot understand the foot dragging!

That's why I at least want an executive order halting all DADT discharges until this is properly resolved.

I've also signed the Courage Campaign's letter to Speaker Pelosi.
I hope it's sorted out soon...