In January 2009, U. S. Army 2nd Lt. Sandy Tsao announced to her commander that she was gay. Whether or not she planned this in advance, she knew her next step was to write a letter to incoming President Barack Obama and she did, urging him to end the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT)policy. She also expressed fears of the consequences of coming out. On May 5 of that year Obama responded with a personal, handwritten note:
Sandy,
Thanks for the wonderful and thoughtful letter. It is because of outstanding Americans like you that I am committed to changing our current policy. Although it will take some time to complete (partly because it needs congressional action) I intend to fulfill my commitment!
Barack Obama
Shortly thereafter, Tsao's career ended and on May 19 she was given a formal military discharge. Her road to dismissal was paved with the president's kind words—and her termination was swift.
U.S. Army Lt. Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and an Arabic linguist, came out publicly in 2009 after almost a decade of military service. The tipping point for him was finding a partner, falling in love, and realizing the indignity that same-sex couples suffer when one or both have to lie about who they are and that includes remaining silent. Choi and Tsao were among the more than 13,000 gay service men and women discharged from the military for sacrificing their careers to the soldier's code of honesty while DADT was in effect—a law costing taxpayers more than $1.5 billion.
Activist-soldiers endured tremendous obstacles in the months leading up to the demise of DADT. As accolades go out to the president and prominent Washington lobbyist groups for being "instrumental" in bringing this law to an end, it is instructive to review in brief DADT's repeal history.
It is hard to imagine that a politician like Obama, who has remained so adamantly opposed to gay marriage, would ever see gay and lesbian soldiers as equal to their heterosexual counterparts unless it was in the light of his own political liability—or gain. Why reward him for this?
When in September 2010 a California federal district court judge issued an injunction banning enforcement of DADT, the Justice Department, under the aegis of the executive branch, had to act fast and petitioned the Appellate Court for the Ninth District for an appeal and got it. Not to be outdone by the GOP, Obama, through his underlings, blocked an anti-DADT lawsuit initiated by the gay organization Log Cabin Republicans. His actions had to have pleased the conservative right.
It was during the time that DADT was temporarily on hold that the executive director of the pro-gay Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, Aubrey Sarvis, said "servicemembers must not come out."
The word "not" is important here. So is the word "must." "Must" makes it a decree. The word "not" turns it into a direct repudiation of much of what anti-DADT activists stand for. How dare Sarvis tell gays to stay in the closet!
In those pre-repeal days, Choi and other discharged gay veterans demonstrated in front of the White House a number of times, chaining themselves to the White House fence. GetEQUAL, an LGBT-focused direct-action group, answered the cause and sponsored similar actions.
The success of every social movement in the past, from women's suffrage to African-American civil rights to gay rights, has been based on the very tactic of direct action and those nameless heroes who believed in it. Remember Stonewall. The LGBT equality movement wouldn't have gotten to the point where it is today with the majority of Americans now accepting the idea of gays in the military if it weren't for the chutzpah of LGBT people taking to the streets. Not the President hemming and hawing over DADT or the pre-repeal-stay-in-the-closet advice of a conservative lobbyist.
Had Sarvis done the opposite of what he did, that is to say, urge all gay service men and women to come out, it could have caused enough bureaucratic havoc, especially during that brief time the court allowed gay people to serve openly and honestly, to force the president, the Pentagon and Congress to concede right then and there.
As for the repeal of DADT, it was, of course, the street activists who got the ball rolling in the first place, including gay discharged soldier Leonard Matlovich in the 1970s. It took the brash courage of the soldier-activist to put "wind in the sails of lobbyists and political elites," to quote Choi. These men and women made it a lot easier for pro-gay Washington groups to lobby for change on the inside.
And now, with the repeal of DADT, quoting Choi again: "I call upon all soldiers to gain the courage to come out." For him the mission is now "supporting and encouraging closeted soldiers to finally access their full integrity, dignity and humanity." I think words like that and the people who speak them deserve honorable mention.
