Lt. Dan Choi, the decorated officer and Arabic linguist being discharged by the Army under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", was arrested and will spend the night in a Washington DC jail after chaining himself to the front gate of the White House in a protest of that policy.
Another soldier, Capt. James Pietrangelo, who appealed his discharged all the way to the Supreme Court last year, also chained himself with
Choi to the White House gate and was arrested. Choi and Pietrangelo will be charged with failure to obey a lawful
order, according to the U.S. Park Police and reported by The Advocate.
The Choi-Pietrangelo protest began earlier at the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rally staged in Freedom Plaza by the Human Rights Campaign and Bravo TV for Kathy Griffin's "reality" show My Life on the D-List. Human Rights Campaign
President Joe Solmonese was asked if Choi could speak at the rally and he sources say Solmonese said "no" because it was Kathy Griffin's rally, according to Tweets published at Towleroad.
Choi took the stage anyway. "You've been told that the White House has a plan," Choi told rally
attendees. "But we learned this week that the president is still not
fully committed. ... Following this rally, I will be leading [the
protest] to the White House to say 'enough talk.' ... Our fight is not here at Freedom Plaza, it is at the White House. We are
walking to the White House right now to send the President a message.
So…take out your cell phones and your cameras. Document this moment.
Join us as together -- we make history."
"When asked by Choi if she would march with him to the White House,
Griffin responded, 'Of course!'" reports The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld. "Neither Griffin nor Solmonese was seen
at the White House protest, however"
Also arrested at the event: Robin McGehee, the California-based LGBT
activist who was the co-director of the National Equality March and
organized the post-Prop 8,
"Meet in the Middle 4 Equality" rallies in Fresno. McGehee's new group GetEqual organized
today's DADT protest.
Kathy Griffin's camera crews for her "reality" show were also absent . They failed to capture the video of two decorated Army officers in a civil disobedience action calling attention to the lack of leadership by the Commander in Chief on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' But several reporters, the AP and CNN were there, more photos and video WHEN YOU JUMP ...