Local
Charges dropped against Choi, Pietrangelo
Trial for White House arrests cancelled
Charges against U.S. Army Capt. Jim Pietrangelo II (left) Lt. Dan Choi stemming from their ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ protests outside the White House were dropped Wednesday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The trial for two gay Army officers arrested for chaining themselves to the White House fence in protest over “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was cancelled Wednesday after charges were dropped in the case.
On the scheduled trial date, prosecutor Christine Chang announced before the D.C. Superior Court that the government was dropping the charges against Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo II for their acts of civil disobedience.
Choi and Pietrangelo had faced penalties stemming for chaining themselves to the White House gates March 18 and April 20. The Army officers were charged with two counts of a failure to obey a lawful order and could have been fined up to $1,000 for their offense.
Following the court appearance, Chang told the Blade the U.S. attorney’s office is “not proceeding with the case at this time,” but declined to comment on why the charges were dropped.
Mark Goldstone, a local attorney representing Choi and Pietrangelo in court, said he was “shocked” the U.S. Attorney’s office decided to dismiss the charges.
Goldstone said he suspected someone from the White House called the U.S. Attorney’s office Wednesday to cancel the trial for “purely political reasons.”
“I think they’re embarassed about defending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which is an abomination,” Goldstone said.
Shin Inouye, a White House spokesperson, told the Blade that the White House had no involvement in dropping the charges against Choi and Pietrangelo.
Following the trial, Choi said his efforts to draw attention to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” were not “just for a sound bite” or “to get famous.”
Had the trial proceeded, Choi said he would have talked about how “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” affects LGBT service members and how “people are dying because they kill themselves” under the current law.
At several points during his coming out process, Choi said he wanted to “put a bullet” into his West Point pistol and shoot himself.
“You know all of the consequences of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,'” Choi said. “You’re not just getting fired from your job, it’s not just a national security issue, and it’s not just a matter of taxpayer money. It’s really about the enforced shame that it causes.”
Pietrangelo said after his court appearance he wasn’t surprised that the U.S. Attorney office’s dismissed the charges because he’s “absolutely confident that we had justice on our side.”
“We won even before we went into the court room is how I felt,” Pietrangelo said. “We were prepared to litigate the whole dirty mess that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is.”
Pietrangelo said he intends to participate in further acts of civil disobedience to keep drawing attention to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” but declined to offer any details about his plans.
Litigation in the courts and legislation in Congress is pending that could lead to repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The House and a Senate committee in May approved a measure that would lead to the end of the law, and people following Capitol Hill expect the full Senate to take up the issue within months.
Still, Choi said the administration has been “more than incompetent” and “unwilling” to follow through with President Obama’s promise to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Choi said he plans to continue participating in acts of civil disobedience as long as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” remains in effect and everyone needs to step up to their responsibility.
Asked whether he would return to the White House, Choi replied, “Let me just say going to jail and being shackled up is nothing compared to allowing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ to exist on the books.” He declined to elaborate further on his plans.
Paul Yandura, a gay D.C. activist and organizer with GetEqual, which helped organize the protests, noted the officers who arrested Choi and Pietrangelo came to the court on the scheduled date of the trial, suggesting the U.S. Attorney’s office was prepared to have them testify.
Yandura said activists following the court apperance asked the prosecutor whether she was prepared for the case and Chang responded she was prepared but couldn’t provide further comment.
“Someone told her at the last minute to drop all charges,” Yandura said. “It’s probably because it’s an embarassment that repeal’s not done. … They just decided to shut this down before we had two trials talking about ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.'”
Yandura also noted that the stay-away order precluding Choi and Pietrangelo from approaching the White House has been lifted, meaning both men engage in further acts of civil disobedience there.
Goldstone said he had planned to present at trial evidence that included previous public statements from Obama asking for continued pressure to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“Obama needed proof of agitations … for political cover,” Goldstone said. “Dan and Jim took his command as a direct command.”
Activists affiliated with GetEqual had presented Obama with a subpoena to testify on behalf of Choi and Pietrangelo during the trial. Neither the president nor any White House official was seen at court during the scheduled day for the trial.
Goldstone said he didn’t plan to present any other witnesses at the trial because he said Choi and Pietrangelo are the “best possible spokespersons” on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Among those who made an appearance in court on the scheduled trial date were Robin McGehee, co-founder of GetEqual, as well as Anthony Woods, a gay Army officer discharged in 2008 under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and who unsuccessfully ran to represent California in Congress earlier this year.
McGehee said civil disobedience won out in this case and charges were dropped because the White House didn’t want the attention on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“Dan and Jim got what they wanted, which was to apply the pressure and to draw attention to the issue,” she said.
Woods said he wanted to attend the scheduled trial as a “show of solidarity” for Choi; he and Choi graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 2003.
“I think he knows there are very real consequences to what he’s doing, which makes what he’s doing that much more heroic,” Woods said.
District of Columbia
Taste of Point returns at critical time for queer students
BIPOC scholar to speak at Room & Board event on May 2
The Point Foundation will kick off May with its annual Taste of Point DC event. The event will be hosted at Room & Board on 14th Street and feature a silent auction, food tastings, a speech from a scholar, and more.
Point’s chief of staff, Kevin Wright, said that at Taste of Point, the scholars are the star of the show.
“People never come to an event to hear Point staff speak, they come to hear from the people most impacted by the program,” he said. “At its core Taste of Point is designed to center and highlight our scholars’ voices and experiences.”
This year, a Point BIPOC Scholar, Katherine Guerrero Rivera will speak at the event.
“It is a great opportunity to highlight the scholars out there on the front lines making impacts in almost every sector and job field,” Wright said.
Wright pointed out that this year especially is a pivotal time for LGBTQ students.
“In 2023, there were 20 states that passed anti-LGBTQ legislation,” he said. “By this point in [2024] we already have more.”
Wright said the impacts of those legislative attacks are far reaching and that Point is continuously monitoring the impact they have on students on the ground.
Last month, The Washington Post reported that states with anti-LGBTQ laws in place saw school hate crimes quadruple. This report came a month after a non-binary student, Nex Bennedict, died after being attacked at school.
“So, we see this as a critical moment to really step up and help students who are facing these challenges on their campus,” Wright said. “Our mission is to continue to empower our scholars to achieve their full academic and leadership potential.”
This year Point awarded nearly 600 LGBTQ students with scholarships. These include the flagship scholarship, community college scholarship and the BIPOC scholarship. When the foundation started in 2002, there were only eight scholarships awarded.
Dr. Harjant Gill is one of those scholars who said the scholarship was pivotal for him. Gill said he spent his undergraduate years creating films and doing activism for the LGBTQ community.
As a result, his academic record wasn’t stellar and although he was admitted into American University’s graduate program he had no clue how he would fund it.
Upon arrival to American he was told to apply for a Point scholarship and the rest was history.
“It ended up being the one thing that kept me going otherwise I would have dropped out,” he said. “Point was incredibly instrumental in my journey to becoming an academic and a professor.”
More than a decade later, Gill serves on the host committee for Taste of Point and is a mentor to young Point scholars. He said that he donates money yearly to Point and that when he is asked what he wants for a gift he will often tell his friends to donate too.
To attend the event on Wednesday, May 2, purchase tickets at the Point website. If you can’t attend this year’s Taste of Point DC event but would like to get involved, you can also donate online.
District of Columbia
Three of five LGBTQ candidates win race for DNC delegate from D.C.
32 candidates competed for 13 elected seats in party caucus
Three out of five known LGBTQ candidates running for election as delegates from D.C. to the Democratic National Convention won their races at an April 20 Democratic Party caucus election held at D.C.’s Walter Washington Convention Center.
Ward 2 gay Democratic activist John Fanning finished in first place with 140 votes and Ward 8 gay Democratic activist David Meadows finished in second place with 127 votes in a race in which six male candidates committed to supporting President Biden were competing for three male seats in a section of the city designated as Congressional District 1, which included registered Democratic voters in Wards 1, 2, 6, and 8.
Ward 7 gay Democratic activist Jimmie Williams won his race, finishing in third place with 200 votes in a race in which eight male candidates committed to President Biden competed for four male seats in the Congressional District 2 section of the city that included Wards 3, 4, 5, and 7.
Gay Democratic activist Felipe Afanador lost his race, finishing in sixth place with 47 votes in the Congressional District 2 election for male candidates backing Biden. It couldn’t immediately be determined which of the four wards in District 2 he is from.
The Washington Blade didn’t learn about Afanador’s status as an LGBTQ candidate until the Capital Stonewall Democrats announced it one day before the April 20 party election in an email statement.
In the Congressional District 2 race among female candidates, in which eight candidates competed for three female seats, transgender rights advocate and Ward 3 Democratic Party activist Monika Nemeth lost her race, finishing in sixth place with 49 votes.
The five LGBTQ candidates were among 32 candidates competing for just 13 elected delegate positions in D.C. D.C. will have a total of 51 delegates to the Democratic Convention, but the other 38 include elected officials and party leaders who are considered “automatic” or appointed delegates. The Democratic Convention will be held in Chicago Aug. 19-23.
Observers familiar with the April 20 party caucus election said Fanning, Meadows, and Williams had participated in local D.C. Democratic Party events and activities for a longer period than Nemeth and Afanador and appear to have been better known among Democratic voters in their respective wards as well as other wards. Those factors contributed to their receiving significantly more votes than most other candidates, observers have said.
In his candidacy statement posted on the D.C. Democratic Party website, Afanador said he worked on the 2020 Biden presidential election campaign in Pennsylvania. His LinkedIn page says in 2022 he began work in Washington for the Biden administration as an official in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Nemeth is a past president of D.C.’s Capital Stonewall Democrats, the city’s largest LGBTQ local political group, and has been an active member of the D.C. Democratic State Committee, the local party governing body. She served as a Biden delegate at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
“It is important for our D.C. delegation to have strong LGBTQ representation,” Capital Stonewall Democrats said in its April 19 statement. “There are five LGBQ candidates running to be delegate, and Capital Stonewall Democrats asks that our members support each one,” the statement says.
“Unfortunately, they fell short, but they and all queer Democrats are welcome to attend and participate in convention events and activities sponsored by the national and local party,” Meadows told the Blade in referring to Nemeth and Afanador. “Our shared goal is to unite behind the Biden-Harris ticket to protect our LGBTQ rights from being dismantled by Donald Trump and the GOP,” Meadows said.
“Running for District Delegate is one of the most grassroots efforts,” Fanning told the Blade. “It’s very beneficial to align yourself on a slate with community leaders that have either previously run for District Delegate or have developed a constituency in their community from other civic engagements,” he said, referring to possible reasons for his, Meadows, and Williams’s election victory.
Aside from the D.C. elected LGBTQ delegates, two prominent D.C. LGBTQ Democratic leaders will be appointed as delegates to the 2024 Democratic National Convention in their role as members of the Democratic National Committee from D.C. They are Claire Lucas, a highly acclaimed Democratic Party and LGBTQ rights advocate and party fundraiser; and Earl Fowlkes, one of the lead organizers of D.C.’s annual Black LGBTQ Pride celebration and former president of the Capital Stonewall Democrats. Both are committed to supporting President Biden as the Democratic nominee for re-election.
GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Maryland state Del. Joe Vogel (D-Montgomery County) on Friday held a “Big Gay Canvass Kickoff” event at his congressional campaign’s headquarters.
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund Vice President of Outreach and Engagement Marty Rouse and John Klenert, a member of the DC Vote and Victory Fund Campaign board of directors, are among those who participated alongside members of Equality PAC. Vogel spoke before Rouse, Klenert and others canvassed for votes in the area.
“Joe brings a fresh new perspective to politics,” said Gabri Kurtzer-Ellenbogen, deputy field director for Vogel’s campaign.
Vogel, 27, is among the Democrats running for Congressman David Trone’s seat.
Trone last May announced his bid to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) in the U.S. Senate.
The Democratic primary is on May 14. Vogel would be the first Latino, the first gay man and first Gen Zer elected to Congress from Maryland if he were to win in November.
“We need a new generation of leadership with new perspectives, new ideas, and the courage to actually deliver for our communities if we want things to get better in this country,” Vogel told the Washington Blade last month during an interview in D.C.
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Dominica High Court of Justice strikes down sodomy law
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Daniel Zamudio murderer’s parole request denied
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