Local
Choi sees trial as ‘badge of honor’
Gay Army officers face judge next week after White House arrests
U.S. Army Lt. Dan Choi, who was arrested after handcuffing himself to the White House fence in protest of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ will go to trial July 14. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
A gay Army officer facing trial next week after chaining himself to the White House fence in protest of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” said his court appearance offers a fresh opportunity to call attention to the military’s gay ban.
On July 14, the D.C. Superior Court will try Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo II, two gay Army officers who were arrested March 18 and April 20 after they handcuffed themselves to the White House gates.
Choi and Pietrangelo face a non-jury trial for the misdemeanor charge of two counts of failure to obey a lawful order stemming from their protest actions. If convicted, they could face a $1,000 fine, but jail time is unlikely.
In an interview with the Blade, Choi said he hopes the trial will draw attention to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the fact that openly LGBT service members continue to face discharge under the law.
“With regard to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and the military, obviously, we’ve made it very clear that people are still going to get discharged — and that’s the bottom line for anybody who is involved in the fight,” Choi said.
Congress took action on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on May 27 when the House and the Senate Armed Services Committee independently attached language to each chamber’s version of major defense budget legislation that would repeal the law.
But Choi said many “who are not in the know” erroneously believe the ban on open service ended as a result of the May votes, and that his trial can help educate people about the situation and “continue to build pressure.”
Besides highlighting the military’s gay ban, Choi said he hopes his trial will call attention to what he called a kind of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” within the LGBT community that prevents people from taking action.
“To me, they’re one and the same,” he said. “The ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in the military enforces shame and hiding and an inability to even discuss certain topics or bring up certain methods of how we’re going to be full and equal dignified people — and the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in our movement is enforced by people upon themselves, upon ourselves.”
Choi said his activities and words may come across as “self-aggrandizement or arrogance,” but he believes he’s working toward a greater good, calling his actions “a matter of service” and “a matter of speaking out for other people.”
He said he isn’t concerned about the criminal penalties he faces if found guilty and that his lawyers informed him he most likely wouldn’t face any jail time.
“To be able to stand up and get punished and to continue to sacrifice in a visible way is a badge of honor on behalf of those people who have not yet been able to do the bare minimum of their steps toward gaining dignity — and that is coming out,” he said.
If activists get their way, the upcoming trial could feature a star witness, although it’s highly unlikely he would appear in court. Lawyers with GetEqual, an activist group responsible for organizing protests keyed to certain LGBT issues, served President Obama a subpoena last week at the White House.
They contend that Choi and Pietrangelo were following orders from their commander-in-chief, who has repeatedly said LGBT people should keep the pressure on him to follow through with his campaign promises for LGBT rights.
One such example of Obama asking LGBT people to keep the pressure on him came last year during a keynote speech at the Human Rights Campaign national dinner.
“And that’s why it’s so important that you continue to speak out, that you continue to set an example, that you continue to pressure leaders — including me — and to make the case all across America,” Obama said at the time.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment on Obama’s receipt of the subpoena or whether the president would appear at the trial.
Choi said protests outside the White House were “truly in keeping with what the president [said] needed to happen.”
“Obviously, it wasn’t a direct order,” Choi said. “But it was an indirect order. I was in uniform at the HRC dinner. I was serving on active duty many times when he said those things.”
Choi said service members like he and Pietrangelo have an “instinct to make sure you do everything you can” when the president or a military commander “even hints that this is the direction that needs to happen.”
While acknowledging Obama’s appearance during the trial would be highly unlikely, Choi said Obama has already been subpoenaed under the “penalty of morality” to live up to the promises he’s made — particularly regarding the LGBT community.
“He has to be able to stand up and be accountable to all of the things that he did — or didn’t — do as a commander particularly,” Choi said.
Robin McGehee, co-founder of GetEqual, the organization that helped organize Choi and Pietrangelo’s protest at the White House, said GetEqual plans to stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Choi and Pietrangelo during their trial next week.
“We take our obligation of protecting the activists that work with us very seriously,” she said. “We have been in constant communication with their defense team and offered our support, but ultimately they are in control of the case’s legal strategy and we certainly respect and support their expertise.”
McGehee said the trial will not only draw attention to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” but “serve as a beacon of hope for many in our community that we can be in charge of our own equality.”
“We don’t have to sit idly by and let someone else decide for us,” she said. “Dan and Jim have exemplified what it means to stand up and find your own voice.”
Choi noted he hasn’t received help from national LGBT groups regarding his actions.
“I’ve been in contact, of course, with GetEqual and the leaders of the grassroots groups, but the national groups — that are lobby groups now — I have not [heard from] and [have had] no offers of help or support,” Choi said.
Alex Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United, said his organization isn’t involved with the case. He noted, however, that Choi’s trial would help bring attention to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“This case helps continue the pressure on the White House by spotlighting the fact that many are still looking to the president for active, not passive, leadership on this issue,” Nicholson said.
Among the national legal groups that Choi cited as offering no support is the American Civil Liberties Union. Choi said he received a response from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, but that it “was on a personal platform and not representing the group.”
“I am certainly waiting for those very smart people and adept people in those national groups to come around and show their support. I would love to see them at the trial,” Choi said.
The ACLU didn’t immediately respond to the Blade’s request for comment on the matter.
Choi’s trial will occur close to the one-year anniversary of when discharge proceedings against him for violating “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” began. On June 30, 2009, a panel of New York National Guard officers recommended Choi be expelled from the U.S. military for publicly saying he’s gay.
Although his discharge proceedings have started, Choi said he remains in service and last week returned from drill duty. He noted that his fellow service members have supported his efforts and talk about topics ranging from same-sex marriage to transgender people to gay sex.
“[One] soldier asked me am I a top or a bottom,” Choi said. “And you know? That is when you know you made it as far as unit cohesion goes because people can joke [about] these things. I said, ‘Well, I don’t believe in those titles. In fact, I believe in full equality.’”
District of Columbia
GLAA releases ratings for 18 candidates running for D.C. mayor, Council, AG
Mayoral contender Janeese Lewis Geroge among those receiving highest score
D.C. mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, a Democrat, is among just four candidates to receive the highest rating score of +10 from GLAA D.C. who are competing in the city’s June 16 primary election.
GLAA, formally known as the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, has rated candidates for public office in D.C. since the 1970s. It rated 18 of the 36 candidates on this year’s primary ballot for mayor, D.C. Council, and D.C. attorney general based on its policy of only rating candidates who return a GLAA questionnaire asking for their positions on a wide range of issues, most of which are not LGBTQ-specific.
Among the candidates who did not return the questionnaire and thus did not receive a rating, according to GLAA, was Democratic mayoral contender Kenyan McDuffie, who along with Lewis George, is considered by political observers to be one of the two leading mayoral candidates running in the Democratic primary.
Lewis George and McDuffie, who each have long records of support for the LGBTQ community, are among a total of eight candidates running for mayor on the June 16 primary ballot: seven Democrats and one Statehood Green Party candidate. In addition to Lewis George, GLAA rated just two other mayoral candidates. Rini Sampath, a Democrat who self identifies as queer, received a +6.5 rating, and Ernest E. Johnson, also a Democrat, received a +4.5 rating
Under the GLAA rating system, candidate ratings range from a +10, the highest score, to a -10, the lowest possible score. In its ratings for the June 16 primary, the lowest score issued was +4.5. GLAA said in a statement that each of the 18 candidates it rated expressed strong support for LGBTQ-related issues in their questionnaire responses, indicating that the overall rating scores reflect the candidates’ positions on mostly non-LGBTQ-specific issues.
The three other candidates who received a +10 GLAA rating are each running as Democrats for the Ward 1 D.C. Council seat. They include gay candidate Miguel Trindade Deramo; Aparna Raj, who identifies as bisexual; and LGBTQ ally Rashida Brown. The only other Ward 1 candidate rated by GLAA is LGBTQ ally Terry Lynch, who received a +5.5 rating.
Ward 5 D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker, the Council’s only gay member who is facing two opponents in the Democratic primary, received a +7 GLAA rating. The two challengers did not return the questionnaire and were not rated.
“In seven out of 10 of our priorities, every candidate indicated agreement,” GLAA said in its statement to the Washington Blade in referring to the candidates it rated. “Total consensus on core issues signals that whomever is elected to Council and mayor, we should expect to hold our elected officials accountable to our goals of protecting home rule, resisting federal overreach, advancing transgender healthcare rights, and eliminating chronic homelessness in the District,” the statement says.
“While candidates agree on the basics, they distinguish themselves in the depth and creativity in their responses, and their record on the issues,” according to the statement, which adds that candidates’ full questionnaire responses and ratings can be accessed on the GLAA website, glaa.org.
Like past election years, GLAA does not rate candidates running for the D.C. Congressional Delegate seat or the so-called “shadow” U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate seats.
With the exception of one question asking about transgender rights, none of the other nine of the 10 questionnaire questions are LGBTQ-specific. But most of the questions mention that LGBTQ people are impacted by the issues being raised, such as affordable housing, federal government intrusion into D.C. home rule, and access to healthcare and public benefits for low-income residents.
One of the questions asks candidates if they support decriminalization of sex work in D.C. among consenting adults, which GLAA supports. Lewis George is among the candidates who said they do not support sex work decriminalization at this time. The other two mayoral candidates that GLAA rated, Sampath and Johnson, said they support sex work decriminalization.
In the race for D.C. attorney general, GLAA issued a rating for just one of the three candidates running: Republican challenger Manuel Rivera, who received a +4.5 rating. Incumbent Democrat Brian Schwalb and Democratic challenger J.P. Szymkowicz were not rated because they didn’t return the questionnaire.
D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D), who is running unopposed in the primary, received a +6.5 rating. Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, who is facing three Democratic challengers in the primary and who is a longtime LGBTQ ally, received a +6.5 rating.
In the special election to fill the at-large D.C. Council seat vacated by the resignation of then-Independent Councilmember McDuffie to enable him to run for mayor as a Democrat, GLAA has rated two of the three Independent candidates competing for the seat. Elissa Silverman received a +5.75 rating, and Doni Crawford received a +5.6 rating.
Finally, in the At-Large D.C. Council race GLAA issued ratings for five of the 11 candidates running in the primary, each of whom are Democrats. Oye Owolewa received a +9; Lisa Raymond, +7.5; Dwight Davis, +6.5; Dyana N.M. Forester, +6; and Fred Hill, +6.6.
The full list of GLAA-rated candidates and their detailed questionnaire responses can be accessed at glaa.org.
Rehoboth Beach
From the Capitol to the coast: Rep. Sarah McBride shares Rehoboth favorites
As summer kicks off, Congresswoman Sarah McBride shares her favorite Rehoboth spots.
Each year for the past 19 years, the Washington Blade has kicked off the summer season with a quintessential tradition — a party in Rehoboth Beach. The annual celebration is well known among Blade readers as the unofficial start of summer and beach season. (This year’s event is May 15, 5-7 p.m. at Diego’s featuring remarks from Ashley Biden.)
Two weeks ago, the Blade sat down with Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first openly transgender person elected to Congress, to discuss her first year in office. While reflecting on key milestones and challenges ahead, she also shared some of her favorite Rehoboth spots and what the beach town means to her.
“I love Rehoboth,” the state’s sole House member told the Blade, beaming from her office in the Longworth House Office Building. “I love Baltimore Avenue, and love going to Aqua and the Pines.”
Both Aqua and the Pines have long served as staples of Rehoboth’s LGBTQ community. From the Saturday night lines stretching down the street off the main drag to the Sunday tea dances, the venues have helped cement Rehoboth as one of the top LGBTQ beach destinations in the United States dating back to at least the 1940s, when LGBTQ federal workers would escape the pressures — and often prying eyes — of Washington for a queer haven along the Delaware coast.
While attitudes and the community itself have evolved over the decades, Rehoboth today can still feel like an extension of D.C. — only with more Speedos and sandy flip-flops. Conversations that begin in Washington about politics and nightlife often continue beachside, shifting from “What’s Bunker’s theme tonight?” to “Who’s DJing at Aqua?”
When asked where she likes to dine in town, McBride highlighted one longtime favorite while also teasing a new addition she’s eager to try.
“Drift Seafood and Raw Bar is one of my favorite restaurants,” she said. “I actually ran into a Rehoboth restaurateur the other day while I was at Longwood Gardens for the tulips — which were beautiful. The restaurateur just opened a new restaurant on the south end of Baltimore Avenue that I’m excited to try. It sounds like an Indian fusion restaurant.”
When asked whether she frequents Poodle Beach — the longtime LGBTQ section of the shoreline — McBride shared that she prefers a quieter stretch of sand a bit farther north of Rehoboth’s gay beach scene.
“I usually go to Deauville, which is just north. It’s right there in between the boardwalk and Gordon’s Pond and North Shores.”
Regardless of where she chooses to unwind from the pressures of Washington and Dover, McBride was clear about how much both Rehoboth and Delaware mean to her.
“I love Rehoboth. I love the restaurants there. This is the professional privilege of my lifetime, getting to represent Delaware.”
“One of the things that I love is seeing how much goodness there is in this state,” she shared. “I represent more people in the House of Representatives than any other representative. Unlike most members who represent exclusively urban, suburban, or rural districts, I represent all three. Delaware demographically looks like America.”
She went on to say that representing a state whose demographics closely mirror the country as a whole gives her hope for the future — something that can at times feel elusive within the often-divisive halls of Congress.
“That means every day that I’m here, and every time Delawareans come to visit me, I get to see the full diversity of this country and this state on display. I get to see the goodness across that diversity, whether it’s diversity of identity or diversity of thought. It makes me even prouder to represent a state that time and time again judges candidates not based on their identities, but based on their ideals.”
She ended with a simple but hopeful message about her state and its people.
“Our politics are too often defined by hate. I’m glad Delaware and Delawareans are showing that a different kind of politics is possible.”
District of Columbia
Anti-LGBTQ violence prevention efforts highlighted at D.C. community fair
Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs organized May 8 event
Detailed advice on how LGBTQ people can avoid, defend themselves against, and prevent themselves and loved ones from becoming victims of violence, with a focus on domestic and intimate partner violence, was presented at a May 8 LGBTQIA+ Safety in Numbers Community Fair.
The event, organized by the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, included five workshop sessions and information tables set up by 14 LGBTQ-supportive organizations and D.C. government agencies or agency divisions, including the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s LGBT Liaison Unit and the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center.
Also playing a lead role in organizing the event was the D.C. LGBTQIA+ Violence Prevention and Response Team, or VPART, a coalition of D.C. officials and leaders of community-based organizations that work with the Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
The event was held in meeting space in the building where the Office of LGBTQ Affairs is located at 899 N. Capitol St., N.E.
The workshop topics included de-escalation training on healthy relationships, bystander intervention, self-defense training, violence prevention grants, and suicide prevention.
“This will be a public safety and violence prevention event where community partners will educate attendees on various methods of violence intervention and trauma-informed practices,” according to a statement released by the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs prior to the start of the event.
The statement adds, “We will have live demos, interactive games, and workshops focused on strategies for self-defense, protecting vulnerable communities, increasing access to mental health resources, providing tools for recognizing domestic violence/intimate partner violence signs in intimate relationships, and assistance for substance abuse.”
Sonya Joseph, associate director of engagement for the Office of LGBTQ Affairs, told the Washington Blade that studies have shown rates of domestic or intimate partner violence are higher in the LGBTQ community than in the community at large.
“Domestic violence and intimate partner violence are two very big prevalent issues in the LGBTQ community,” she said, adding that some of the workshops at the event would be providing “training on healthy relationships and how to recognize and prevent intimate partner violence and the signs of it.”
About 35 to 40 people attended the workshop sessions.
Experts specializing in violence impacting the LGBTQ community have said domestic violence refers to violence among people in domestic relationships that can include spouses but also siblings, parents, cousins, and other relatives. Intimate partner violence, according to the experts, refers to violence perpetuated by a partner in a romantic or dating relationship.
These D.C. based organizations or agencies that participated in the LGBTQIA+ Safety in Numbers event, and which can be contacted for assistance, include:
• Defend Yourself
• DC LGBTQ+ Community Center
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
• Joseph’s House
• Us Helping Us, People into Living, Inc.
• MCSR (formerly known as Men Can Stop Rape)
• MPD LGBT Liaison Unit
• Volunteer Legal Advocates
• DC SAFE
• Destination Tomorrow
• D.C. Office of Victims Services and Justice Grants
• Life Enhancement Services
• ONYX Therapy Group
• U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C.
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