The Oracle: Lt. Dan Choi, Rosa Parks or Hanoi Jane?
Yesterday, Lt. Dan Choi and two others were arrested for an act of civil disobedience to protest ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ Choi and his compatriots chained themselves to the fence of the White House to highlight the plight of those in the armed services that cannot serve openly. While many in the civilian LGBT community are hailing him as a modern day Rosa Parks, many LGBT veterans disagree. Many veterans seem to think Choi is more like Hanoi Jane.
Jane Fonda was an anti-war activist that protested against the military and the United States government during the Vietnam War. While many may have agreed with Fonda’s sentiments, military servicemembers have never forgiven her and, at the time, created the moniker Hanoi Jane.
While a large number of LGBTs may agree with Lt. Choi’s actions at the White House, many LGBT veterans and others in the military were dismayed at the fact that he protested in uniform. He was joined by Captain Jim Pietrangelo who was also in uniform. Protesting in uniform is grounds for a court martial or administrative proceeding to punish any servicemember who violates policy. If Choi and Pietrangelo believe in the tenets of the military, why in the world would they protest in uniform and subject themselves to discharge based upon something other than their sexual orientation?
Dan Choi (photo courtesy Joe.My.God.)
The Choi protest also may raise the ranker of senior military officials and congress members who were leaning our way. Protesting in military uniform was not only inappropriate, but detrimental to our cause. I know many think Choi’s act was courageous and, I agree, but he clearly did not think through the consequences of being in uniform. The silence from LGBT veterans’ rights organizations is deafening; it says, “Choi, you are off the ranch and not helping our efforts to get DADT repealed.”
The Rosa Parks action was a well thought-out, coordinated effort which involved the major civil rights organizations of the day. It was not a rogue person or organization creating their own protest without a sense for the consequences. Seems to me like Choi is more Hanoi Jane than Rosa Parks.
I hate to say it…well I don’t..but Choi is the worst spokesman for the repeal the DADT…he would of been let go from the military (trust me…I worked with him) for sheer incopetence anyway as he was at a certain point…and nobody cared/knewabout his sexuality. It would be more beneficial to have a frontman who was actually competent in his field!
People fear change and people hate what they fear.
It should come as no surprise that Lt. Dan Choi (and Capt Paitrangelo though he seems be escaping the brunt of the criticism) are being attacked as they are. Such always seems the case whenever someone demands transparency from those who’ve self anointed themselves as arbiters of the cause.
Rosa Parks action was well thought out? I beg to differ. In her own words “At the time I was arrested I had no idea it would turn into this. It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in. “
Thank you, locomojo30. And the “major civil rights organizations of the day” were small committees and groups that we now know were under investigation by the FBI who claimed they were subversive.
The difference here is that these groups recognized something as a flashpoint that could capture the attention of great numbers of people. HRC still doesn’t get it; some reports say they are actually hiding out from the community they claim to serve.
Do you get the kind of groundswell that focuses attention on an issue by the selfless action of somebody who’s had enough, or through a reality show that highlights the hijinks of a commedian-turned-lobbyist?
Lost in all this is the news coming from Barney Frank that DADT is dead for this year. That didn’t seem nearly as important to Kathy Griffin, her production company, or HRC.
Could that be because to LGBT servicemembers that means another year having to lie and hide, but to HRC it means another good year of fundraising saying “we’re doing everything we can,” and to the Griffin team it means a show that can weather the months between acquisition and airing without getting stale.
My article never mentioned HRC, please try to keep your comments on topic. My article calls into question Choi et al’s decision to protest in uniform and how LGBT veterans and veterans in general have reacted.
No national LGBT veteran’s organizations have come to Choi’s defense.
That is the mythology of the event. The civil disobedience of Rosa Parks had already been tested by another woman on an interstate bus. Rosa was the first to do it on an intrastate bus. Intrastate buses were desegregated before intrastate buses. So, Rosa was quite aware of these acts of civil disobedience. She was suprised that it became a nationally recognized event and she became a celebrity. No one remembers the woman who did it first…her name was Irene Morgan.
Stampp,
Comparing Choi’s protest to Fonda going to North Vietnam, which was arguably a treasonous act, is unfair, to say the least. There nothing remotely similar to doing smiling photo ops in the capital of a country we’re at war with and chaining yourself to the fence of the White House to protest not being allowed to go to war. They are hugely different, both morally and politically.
Even if wearing the uniform was ill-advised career-wise, he was doing something symbolically powerful and politically valuable. That he was willing to risk his career — as he has been for a long time by being out, open, and publicly critical of the military — should be praised. Most of the suit-and-tie activists refuse to risk anything, let alone their livelihoods.
As for Rosa Parks, she certainly knew the potential consequences of her actions, since she had been working with the NAACP on helping to raise money for the defense of a girl who refused to give up her seat on a bus. (Claudette Colvin was abandoned by the NAACP as a test case because she was pregnant and cursed a lot.) Parks said repeatedly that she did what she did because she was tired. Her actions were seized upon by the NAACP as part of “coordinated effort” after the fact, but her actions themselves were neither coordinated nor planned.
Gideonse:
You try to simply my argument. Basically, Hanoi Jane did not understand the consequences of her actions, though many defended her. Choi et al did not understand the consequences of protesting in uniform. His protest would have been much more effective and have resonated with LGBT vets had he not done it in uniform. Now LGBT vet organizations cannot herald him because they cannot support the actions of a veteran who involved the uniform in a protest.
I’m not trying to simplify your argument. I’m pointing out the rhetoric is unfair and inflammatory. All sorts of people didn’t realize the full consequences of their acts, but Fonda is still loathed by veterans, and Choi’s actions, even if ill-advised, will never be treated with the same kind of scorn. And I don’t think it’s fair to claim to know what Choi knows or doesn’t know, just like I don’t think it’s fair to say that “many veterans” think something and not to quote or link to even one.
You know, maybe Lt. Choi wasn’t out to get attention from LGBT vets. Maybe he was – unlike some other efforts in our community – actually working on making our cause visible to people who DON’T already support his cause.
And maybe, just maybe, wearing his uniform was the best way to do that.
I think it is self-righteous and arrogant to presume that he did not think his actions through, just because you don’t agree with them.