This 10 Year Old Won’t Stand for a Country that Doesn’t Support its GLBTQ Population
Will Phillips is an exceptionally bright 10 year old boy who recently skipped a grade in school and whose family had always taught him to be aware of what’s right, wrong, and what’s fair. The family has many friends in the gay community and they are allies for the community, having attended pride parades and standing up for the rights of their gay and lesbian neighbors, including their right to marry and to adopt. Will has always tried to analyze things (because he wants to be a lawyer) and it is that logic he uses when he hears the pledge of allegiance and has determined that we do not really live in a country that gives liberty and justice for all, which is why he has refused to stand up and recite the pledge of allegiance in school–after asking his parents if it was illegal to not recite it, of course.
The first time Will refused to stand and recite the pledge of allegiance he had a sub at school, a woman who had known his mother and grandmother. When he refused, this woman got angry and resorted to telling Will that she knew his mother and grandmother and that they would want him to stand up and recite the pledge of allegiance. Will is very, very lucky because he has a supportive family who raised him to respect and taught him about the unfairness that GLBTQ people are treated with by their own country. Of course this substitute teacher was incredibly out of line to tell him that she knew his mother and that she would want him to stand up and recite the pledge when if she truly knew his mother for the woman that she is, she would know that his mother lets him make his own decisions and come to his own conclusions with his analysis, and as long as he is not hurting anyone (and in this case he is actually extending love to others and standing up for the same people that are discriminated against) I do not see the problem.
There are undoubtedly people all across the country who have heard Will’s story and support him for exercising his right not to stand up and recite the pledge of allegiance, but where there are supporters, there are people who are condemning him and taking the completely close-minded ‘America: Love It or Love It‘ stance. One comment I saw on another blog that mimicked everything that we constantly hear from people who think they stand for the people of this country but really all they stand for is homophobia, bigotry and blind admiration for the country:
This kid doesn’t deserve to live in this country. We have soldiers overseas fighting to save his sorry *** and he can’t have the respect for the nation that he lives in to say a simple pledge? If he doesn’t support this country he can find someplace else to live because anyone who takes dislike to this country can feel free to take their ignorant selves elsewhere. I understand him supporting gay rights but first of all, the national government doesn’t even control laws about homosexuality because it was not a power given to them in the constitution; it is a right reserved for state legislation. If he is so knowledgeable in this area of politics he should also be aware that Arkansas, like most southern state, is a very traditional, conservative state and one that frowns upon homosexuality, in this case i could understand him not supporting his state because they do exactly what he is against. That being said, even if the national government did have control over issues like this, it’s still not an excuse to support the pledge. It’s very simple, if you don’t support the country than the country shouldn’t support you and you can find somewhere else to live like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Somalia etc. and then see how bad it is to live here! This kid has a lot to learn! He is being just as ignorant as the gay bashers that he is fighting against and if you’re supporting this your just as ignorant as that kid too!
I seriously love this kid and sticking to his convictions about the discrimination against GLBTQ people in this country. When the war in Iraq started I was in high school and I was (and still am, obviously) opposed to the wars that we are currently sacrificing our soldiers for. So in the mornings in home room, I refused to stand or recite the pledge of allegiance. Of course, just like in Will’s case, it caused quite a stir with my teachers who were offended by me and my refusal to “support my country.” I ended up having to get a note written by my father saying that it was fine for me not to stand and recite the pledge of allegiance and present it to the principal. Thankfully, my father has always respected my opinions and decisions, in life and my political stance, and because I have been gifted with my father’s sarcasm and sense of humor, he did write a letter to my principal… telling him that he does not remember having to write a note giving me permission to stand up and recite the pledge of allegiance in the first place. No, the apple does not fall far from the tree.
Way to go Will, keep fighting the good fight!
The Late Liberal Lion and Healthcare Champion, Senator Ted Kennedy
The morning of August 26, 2009, news broke that Senator Ted Kennedy had died after a long battle against brain cancer. The loss of the “Liberal Lion” is a great one; we have surely lost one of the good guys–and he was one of the few we had left to begin with. However, while we have surely lost a progressive voice, it is important to recognize and celebrate all that he has accomplished while proudly serving this country and to continue the fights left unfinished that he dedicated his life to.
Senator Ted Kennedy proudly served his country, but he served each and every single person within it, which is something that not many politicians can have on their resume. He truly looked at the people of this country with a nondiscriminatory lens and fought to reverse the injustices that his fellow humans encountered daily. He was a strong supporter of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and later authored amendments strengthening enforcement of key provisions of the Act. He played a central role in fighting discrimination in both the Age Discrimination Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. In 1994, he was the original Senate lead on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, in 1996 he voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, leading opposition to a federal marriage amendment and opposed an anti-marriage measure in Massachusetts, and in 1997, he was the original sponsor of hate crimes legislation. Senator Kennedy also fought to end the funding of abstinence-only education programs, increased funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment and was an outspoken supporter for the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
But what Senator Kennedy is most known for and what he devoted his career to is ensuring that each and every American citizen has the right to affordable health care. He first introduced a bill calling for universal health care coverage in 1970 and over the next four decades, he never ceased in his efforts to make his bill a reality for all Americans without adequate access to health care they need. This past summer Senator Kennedy wrote an essay on the need for universal, affordable health care services, appropriately titled ‘The Cause of My Life.’
It is a key reason that I defied my illness last summer to speak at the Democratic convention in Denver — to support Barack Obama, but also to make sure, as I said, “that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American…will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not just a privilege.” For four decades I have carried this cause — from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society. Now the issue has more meaning for me — and more urgency — than ever before. But it’s always been deeply personal, because the importance of health care has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years.
Health care reform is about people, which I have recently written about here entitled with the same sentiment and explaining my own horrific story with the health care industry and my inability to receive the health care I desperately need because of my lack of finances and no one willing to help in sight. As I also wrote in that post–This country will inevitably always be comprised of the have’s and the have not’s, but access to health care that people so desperately need should never be lumped into those categories. Senator Kennedy felt the same way and fought throughout his career in hopes of people like me and people like you being able to receive the health care that we not just need, but that we deserve.
When Not Even Ann Coulter is with You, It’s Time to Give it Up
I have been doing more blog reading lately, rather than blog writing and for some reason, I find myself continuously drawn into conservative blogs. It’s like how you just have to watch a horrific car accident on the side of the street. You simply cannot help yourself. But while there are political topics that conservative bloggers could very well be blogging about, they are either not watching the news or not using their computers to stay up to date with politics because a great deal of them are still claiming that Obama isn’t an American citizen.
“Birthers” are a small, but unrelenting and vocal crowd of right-wing activists that truly believe that Obama was not born in the United States and therefore cannot be our president. Even though the question of Obama’s citizenship has repeatedly been put to rest by Hawaii state officials, where Obama’s birth certificate and all other credible evidence show that he was born in Honolulu on August 4, 1961.
The whole birthers “movement,” if you even want to call it that, comes down to the right still being pissed off that John McCain didn’t win the presidency. Couple the fact that we have a Democratic president with the fact that the right-wing media has non-stop spouted fear-mongering hate speech and racism from the onset of the 2008 presidential election and it has yet to stop.
Fact and reason are undoubtedly lost on “birthers” and instead of slowly burrowing themselves back into a hole in the ground and admitting that they had made a huge deal out of something so absurd, they are continuing their “fight.” But it has come to the point where right-wing trainwrecks we make fun of and wonder how the hell it is that they are still looked at as being a prominent political commentator are telling the birthers that it’s time to move on.
Prime example: Ann Coulter.
When Will the Sarah Palin Obsession Stop?
Ever since Sarah Palin appeared on the scene as John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 presidential election, the media has been absolutely obsessed with her; although not quite in that “the media is after me and all those reporters and bloggers are the worst people in the entire world, sitting in front of their computers in their parents basements, eating Ramen noodles, still in their pajamas, out to destroy every facet of my life” kind of way that Palin herself believes the media to be. The media has been in a frenzy over Sarah Palin; reporting on her politics, career, and family, reporting on her spur of the moment press conferences to retort back to the media when she doesn’t like what a certain publication or network had to say about her politics, career, and family, reporting on what other people are saying about her, and on and on.
Most recently, however, the Sarah Palin media explosion has become too much; even to the point of unneeded and ridiculous.
Sarah Palin quit her job. Regardless of the political spin you would like to put on it to make it sound better, that is what happened; and since she took the podium that beginning-of-4th-of-July-weekend and gave that half-speech trying to sneak under the radar of the big, mean press, we have not been able to stop talking about it.
Why did she do it?
What was she thinking?
What lead up to this?
What is she going to do now?
Is this some sort of scheme? Because we all know how fond Republicans are of schemes!
And on and on and on we went.
And on and on and on we continue to go; even now, a full two weeks later. The press is now even going as far as to writing entire articles on her very short, so-called career, although whether they are genuine supporters, critics, or merely associate the very being of Palin with the same feelings of watching a car wreck and feel the need to report on this fact (which is very much what spurred this article in particular), are varied.
While I have no problem with the press reporting on actual news or something that at least some people would find interesting to read, even if it happens to revolve around a person who I personally believe is more of a one-person circus act than anything else, but re-reporting on someone’s career to the point of irrelevancy and redundancy just makes you, as well as your publication, look as if it was low on actual news that day and had to fill up space with something, so why not yet another article on a woman whose candle had been blown out months ago. The woman has quit her job; she has taken herself out of the limelight and it’s about time that we follow suite and stop trying to force news out of her name. Don’t worry, you can start writing about her again once she comes out with that unwarranted book everyone’s whispering about.
Obama’s Excuse for Not Overturning ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’–”It’s a Generational Issue”
Barack Obama has been in the White House for six months now and in the minds of many Americans, Obama has transformed into two different people. On one hand, there’s Barack Obama the 2008 presidential candidate. He was the candidate who (obviously) most of the country was in awe of; who made our jaws drop and our hearts fill of legitimate hope for ourselves, for our families, and for our country every time we tuned in to watch a town hall meeting or debate, or when we heard clips of his speeches being played on the radio, or when we repeatedly listened to that damn addicting Yes We Can song from will.i.am. He was the person we woke up early to cast our ballots for on election day and whose name we repeated throughout the day when we excitedly proclaimed that we had voted for the person who we believed could repair our crumbling America.
On the other hand, there’s Barack Obama the President of the United States of America. He is a man who still retains much of the support he had when we were rushing to our local polling stations and picking up carloads of our friends and family to make sure that they could vote in such a historic and meaningful election and could be a part of the New America we had envisioned. But there are many who are tired; who are restless and who don’t glue themselves to the television every time he speaks anymore or get teary-eyed when they listen to his image of the ideal America. We have our own images of the ideal America; the America where each and every single American citizen matters and whose voice counts for something and we had entrusted Barack Obama to put an end to the Republican-coddling government that we were faceless, nameless, and voiceless sheep for. We have an image of an America where each and every single person is created equal, no matter what.
We have been a country lead by the Obama Administration for six months and we are very far from all Americans achieving equal rights and we are frustrated.
Obama talked a good game during his candidacy about the future of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He made it abundantly clear that he was morally and professionally against the ruling that strictly forbids openly gay and lesbian Americans from serving their country. Most notably recently, the US Army National Guard willingly lost Arabic linguist Lt. Dan Choi merely because he happens to be a gay American. While he may be the poster person for the push back of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell at the moment, Lt. Dan Choi is one of 12,500 Americans to be fired from their jobs because of who they are. Choi sent an open letter to Barack Obama and to every member of Congress asking them not to deny him the right to serve and protect his country but regardless of his efforts, he was fired and more Americans are dealing with the same circumstances because of a law that denies that America is the free and equal country that it claims to be. The America that our troops are serving and protecting right now is a lie and until every American has the right to excel in a career of their choice and to exist without having to hide who they are, the soldiers who we send overseas to protect our country will continue to serve in vain.
Below is a segment from the Rachel Maddow show (although Rachel Maddow is not present, boo!) about a recent speech that Obama had given regarding Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. His charisma attempts to cut through the thick air of waiting and frustration, and as he acknowledges that fact that he can’t tell the American people to be patient anymore, he merely… you guessed it, tells us to be patient.
But what’s the holdup regarding overturning the bigoted and hateful law that is Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?
Saying “We’re going to get this done” is yet another tactic used to ease people’s concerns at the present moment, satisfy them enough so they think they have received an answer, and you can move on to the next person to give them the same vague, unresponsive response.
Obama knows that about 75% of the American public supports the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and he is worried about the “generational issue” or “gap,” what’s the plan of action, then? Is Obama waiting for all of the older people who are offended by the fact that a gay man or a lesbian woman is protecting the country they live in die so he can have the support of all living American people who believe in equality? To state that there is a generational issue and that you need to convince these people that allowing people to serve in the military and also exist as the human being that they are is a cop out answer to me. There are going to be people who do not agree with your position but as the president, you have the power to stand up for the people who are looking to you for help and who are looking to you to stand up for what you believe in and know is right. If Bush could start two wars, royally screw the economy, and send the entire middle class into a downward spiral, can’t the president also repeal a law that is ruining the careers and the lives of the people who wish to serve their own country, or at the very least put something into effect that prohibits the discharge of gay and lesbian soldiers until we can completely overturn Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?
For The National Review Sotomayor Is The Wise Latina Buddhist
Okay, this latest image sent my WTF meter right off. Seriously, how much longer are white men going to display their ignorance and hatred to promote their undeserved privilege? It started with Sotomayor the piñata because apparently the fact that she is Puerto Rican and not Mexican is irrelevant. Now we have Sotomayor the Buddhist. When it comes to creating WOC as “other” any social construction will do, as our cultures and religions clearly have no individualized identity.
Sotomayor is Catholic and Puerto Rican, how hard is it to recognize these two basic facts? Not only is this image offensive to WOC, it is offensive to all Buddhists because their religion is being reduced once again to the “all knowing Asian” stereotype that whiteness loves to lean on. You will note that even though people around the globe practice Buddhism, this caricature has slanted eyes so that the viewer is sure to recognize that the artist (and I use that term loosely) is reifying that mysticism and or enlightenment are the preserve of those “brainy yellow people.” Buddhists certainly don’t move through the world, holding down jobs and interacting with others; no they are far to busy contemplating the nothingness of being in mountain ranges with hard to pronounce names.
With this latest graphic the assaults on Sotomayor have truly reached the level of idiotic, sexist and racist. In appealing to the irrational fear of white men that they are being supplanted, these artists have succeeded in creating a monolithic “other”. It does not matter what ones achievements, education, or political position is if your body represents that of an “other”. It panics these men of privilege that a Latina woman of humble beginnings could possibly have a different perspective or a line of thought that is more comprehensive due to a different life experience.
The very normalization of whiteness is what allows these kinds of images to exist. These cartoons scream DIFFERENT, DIFFERENT, DIFFERENT…without acknowledging that the issue is not really difference but the value that has been applied to difference. As Sotomayor goes through the confirmation process we will probably see more attacks of this nature. Though whiteness is under no great attack from invading Puerto Rican women seeking to rule, the idea that one could possibly sit on what has been commonly a throne to white men is threatening because it suggests that white men do not have a monopoly on intelligence.
Cross Posted from Womanist Musings
Sotomayor Racism Watch: Piñata Cartoon Edition
It took no time at all for racist and sexist cartoons to hit the internet. This horrendous and disgusting cartoon went up on The Oklahoman on June 2nd, the day after the first cartoon published on the website mocking the overly exaggerated words the GOP had mindlessly flung around as a herd of barbaric frat boys.
Showing Sotomayor as a piñata while elephants line up to hit her as President Obama facilitates (of course, wearing a sombraro because sombraros and piñatas are the only ways to present Latino culture) is not funny. No matter which way you look at it, depicting racism, sexism, and violence against women is never funny, under any circumstances whatsoever.
As Renee over at Womanist Musings put it:
If the racism where not enough the incitement of violence is certainly the coup de grace. In a country in which women suffer violence at the hands of men on a daily basis to have them line up to take their “best shot” at her is not innocent political commentary.
If you are horrified about not just an established, professional woman being portrayed in such a manner, but any woman, do not hesitate to contact The Oklahoman. If they are perfectly fine with publishing discriminatory filth, they need to hear from us.
You can email them at yourviews@oklahoman.com or write to them at the following address:
Your Views
The Oklahoman
P.O. Box 25125
Oklahoma City, OK 73125
But you are not able to simply tell them your views, you need to follow some guidelines:
1. Letters of 250 words or less.
2. A full name and complete postal address, including zip code, must accompany your letter. (This is needed for verification. Your address won’t be published.)
3. “Name withheld” letters are not accepted. Nor are letters signed only with initials or a first initial and last name.
4. E-mailed letters cannot be sent as attachments.
5. Authors are limited to one letter every 28-42 days, depending on volume.
6. When referring to a news story or previous letter published in Your Views, cite the headline or letter writer’s name and the date of publication.
h/t Womanist Musings
The GOP’s Campaign Against Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Sotomayor was originally nominated to federal court by George Herbert Bush; a fact that Obama mentioned in his speech to nominate Sotomayor for the US Supreme Court and a fact that the entire GOP and its supporters have conveniently ignored for the sake of having something else to bitch and complain about.
The Guardian’s Scott Lemieux has put together an article on Sotomayor’s qualifications for the job she has been nominated for and has discovered that Sotomayor’s qualifications mirror those of current Justice Samuel Alito; a man who the GOP has fawned over and that John McCain wholeheartedly supports and name-dropped all over the place during the last presidential election. But given the fact that Sotomayor is obviously qualified and possesses the same qualifications of a man supported at large by the GOP, they aren’t going to let her confirmation go without a fight… And the only reason why several smear campaigns have already started against her is because she is not a white, privileged male.
Did you know that all Latina women are named Maria? Well according to Mike Huckabee, the nomination of Maria Sotomayor “will likely leave us with something akin to the “Extreme Court” that could mark a major shift” because she is so “far left.”
The appointment of Maria Sotomayor for the Supreme Court is the clearest indication yet that President Obama’s campaign promises to be a centrist and think in a bipartisan way were mere rhetoric. Sotomayor comes from the far left and will likely leave us with something akin to the “Extreme Court” that could mark a major shift. The notion that appellate court decisions are to be interpreted by the “feelings” of the judge is a direct affront of the basic premise of our judicial system that is supposed to apply the law without personal emotion. If she is confirmed, then we need to take the blindfold off Lady Justice.—
I’m sure Maria Sotomayor will be displeased to learn that Mike Huckabee is not a fan of her, but I wonder how he feels about Sonia Sotomayor… And um, Lady Justice!? I don’t think so. Does the GOP refer to Justice Alito as Mr. Justice Alito? No, I don’t think they do.
Newt Gingrich, who apparently took Meghan McCain’s advice to start Twittering, joined his fellow fraternity brothers Republican colleagues Sen. James Inhofe and Rep. Lamar Smith in calling Sotomayor racist for claiming that judicial diversity is important when determining “race and sex discrimination cases.”
So apparently Gingrich believes that an out of context remark made during a speech on race and sex discrimination cases that appeared in print in the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal in 2002 is proof that Sotomayor is a racist… Because no one knows what it’s like to be a woman of color more than a white male, right?
Karl Rove jumped on board calling Sotomayor an “intellectual lightweight,” obviously encouraged by Jeffrey Rosen’s New Republic article which allowed unnamed sources to attack Sotomayor as “not that smart” and lacking “penetrating” questions on the bench.
Because nothing shows someone’s lack of intellect than graduating summa cum laude from Princeton University as well as attending Yale Law School and holding the job of editor of the Yale Law Journal.
The attacks against Sonia Sotomayor are in bad taste and fueled by nothing less than racism and sexism… Pot calling the kettle black, anyone?
Obama Nominates Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court
I apologize for not getting this up yesterday, but I sleep sometimes.
Yesterday morning Obama announced his nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court to replace Justice Souter.
Sotomayor would become the second woman on the court, only the third female justice in the history of the Supreme Court, and the first Hispanic justice to serve on the Supreme Court.
She is obviously qualified for the job, having graduated from Princeton University summa cum laude, she attended Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. She spent five years as a prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney’s office before entering a private practice. She currently serves as an appeals judge for the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, covering New York, Vermont, and Connecticut.
Even with all of her extensive experience and qualifications for the job, conservatives have already started showing us how rocky the road to her confirmation will be, calling her a “judicial activist”
Conservatives argue Sotomayor has a “hard-left record” and believes that judges should consider experiences of women and minorities in their decision-making.
Here is President Obama’s introduction of Sonia Sotomayor:
And here is her speech:
First Door on the Left went over to an extremist conservative blog to see how the conservatives were reacting to this nomination and of course, as you may have suspected, they were full of hate speech, racism, and sexism. Check it out if your stomach can handle it.
When Will We Say Goodbye to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell?
President Obama has voiced his disapproval of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the federal law that does not allow lesbian and gay people to serve openly in the military, many times and he has also voiced his position on ending the law. However, qualified and valued people continue to be discharged from the military and the Obama Administration continues to talk about ending the policy without any follow through as of yet.
Among the 12,500 people who have been dismissed from the military because of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is Dan Choi, West Point Graduate, Arabic linguist for the US Army National Guard who came out during the Rachel Maddow Show. He was back on the show last week to discuss his dismissal.
Dan Choi has also written an open letter to President Obama as well as every member of Congress. Please take action in support of Dan Choi and the over 12,500 LGBT soldiers who have been dismissed with serving under and because of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and call the White House Switchboard at 202-456-1111 and voice your support of the ending of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
Open Letter to President Obama and Every Member of Congress:
I have learned many lessons in the ten years since I first raised my right hand at the United States Military Academy at West Point and committed to fighting for my country. The lessons of courage, integrity, honesty and selfless service are some of the most important.
At West Point, I recited the Cadet Prayer every Sunday. It taught us to “choose the harder right over the easier wrong” and to “never be content with a half truth when the whole can be won.” The Cadet Honor Code demanded truthfulness and honesty. It imposed a zero-tolerance policy against deception, or hiding behind comfort.
Following the Honor Code never bowed to comfortable timing or popularity. Honor and integrity are 24-hour values. That is why I refuse to lie about my identity.
I have personally served for a decade under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: an immoral law and policy that forces American soldiers to deceive and lie about their sexual orientation. Worse, it forces others to tolerate deception and lying. These values are completely opposed to anything I learned at West Point. Deception and lies poison a unit and cripple a fighting force.
As an infantry officer, an Iraq combat veteran and a West Point graduate with a degree in Arabic, I refuse to lie to my commanders. I refuse to lie to my peers. I refuse to lie to my subordinates. I demand honesty and courage from my soldiers. They should demand the same from me.
I am committed to applying the leadership lessons I learned at West Point. With 60 other LGBT West Point graduates, I helped form our organization, Knights Out, to fight for the repeal of this discriminatory law and educate cadets and soldiers after the repeal occurs. When I receive emails from deployed soldiers and veterans who feel isolated, alone, and even suicidal because the torment of rejection and discrimination, I remember my leadership training: soldiers cannot feel alone, especially in combat. Leaders must reach out. They can never diminish the fighting spirit of a soldier by tolerating discrimination and isolation. Leaders respect the honor of service. Respecting each soldier’s service is my personal promise.
The Department of the Army sent a letter discharging me on April 23rd. I will not lie to you; the letter is a slap in the face. It is a slap in the face to me. It is a slap in the face to my soldiers, peers and leaders who have demonstrated that an infantry unit can be professional enough to accept diversity, to accept capable leaders, to accept skilled soldiers.
My subordinates know I’m gay. They don’t care. They are professional.
Further, they are respectable infantrymen who work as a team. Many told me that they respect me even more because I trusted them enough to let them know the truth. Trust is the foundation of unit cohesion.
After I publicly announced that I am gay, I reported for training and led rifle marksmanship. I ordered hundreds of soldiers to fire live rounds and qualify on their weapons. I qualified on my own weapon. I showered after training and slept in an open bay with 40 other infantrymen. I cannot understand the claim that I “negatively affected good order and discipline in the New York Army National Guard.” I refuse to accept this statement as true.
As an infantry officer, I am not accustomed to begging. But I beg you today: Do not fire me. Do not fire me because my soldiers are more than a unit or a fighting force – we are a family and we support each other. We should not learn that honesty and courage leads to punishment and insult. Their professionalism should not be rewarded with losing their leader. I understand if you must fire me, but please do not discredit and insult my soldiers for their professionalism.
When I was commissioned I was told that I serve at the pleasure of the President. I hope I have not displeased anyone by my honesty. I love my job. I want to deploy and continue to serve with the unit I respect and admire. I want to continue to serve our country because of everything it stands for.
Please do not wait to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Please do not fire me.
Very Respectfully,
Daniel W. Choi
1LT, IN
New York Army National Guard
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Out Campaign
The OUT Campaign allows individuals to let others know they are not alone. It can also be a nice way of opening a conversation and help to demolish the negative stereotypes of atheists. Let the world know that we are not about to go away and that we are not going to allow those that would condemn us to push us into the shadows.
