Ben, I am wondering if that is indeed the plan, incrementally.

The enemy is the closet, not whatever the current figurehead is. Putting a face to the object of anti-gay hatred is never a mistake.

I would love to see 500 servicemen march on the whitehouse and say “we’re queer.” 500 chainnig themselves to the gates would be even better.

As long as we’re isolated, they can pick us offo ne by one.

Yes, absolutely.

If the Democrats are looking at midterms, they need to pass items like ENDA. The Democrats biggest problem at the moment is the apathy of the Obama voters who watched the Democratic congress bungle health-care, delivering an entirely Republican/Conservative version of the bill even knowing no Republicans would vote for it. They let their base slide into apathetic territory, and it is killing them. And now one large, motivated, organized, and wealthy section of that base is angry…

When everybody is nice and polite and invisible, it’s more of a reason for the President on down to behave as if you’re not there.
When you’re loud and more aggressive, then the opposition’s attitude is that you’re too in their faces and down their throats.

The fact that the press and the public was banned from Lafayette Parks speaks to the preference for silence and invisibility.
Out of sight, out of mind.

Meanwhile, exemplary and committed gay service personnel are losing their careers, and our country is losing options when it comes to qualified people.

This isn’t about gay people being impatient, there is legitimate urgency in these actions. Damned do or don’t.
Our nation owes it’s soldiers, gay or not, a reason why we are endangering EVERYONE with this foot dragging.

And that endangerment comes from too many deployments of the same personnel, lowering standards so that seriously questionable recruits are put in the ranks, and that bigotry is indulged more than the simple expectation that command can inspire their troops to greatness within their diversity.

Lt. Choi and his fellows shouldn’t HAVE to do anything like this in the first place to get attention.
WHO they are, their service record and commitment to be soldiers in the first place should speak for itself.

Obama is full of shit, so is every elected leader on this issue.
What this is really saying is just how cowardly, and lacking in real leadership they really are to deserve the offices they hold.

Becuase, quo, there are people who think exactly as you do– they hate gay people, especially if the gay people are themselves.

you woulda thought that Lt. calley would have convinced people that having heteros in the military was a bad idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaBk1dUF9nM&feature=player_embedded

Why was Lafayette Park Closed to the Media and the Public?
What were the legitimate reasons for hiding this Peaceful Event from the public?
Was there a Bomb Threat or other “National Security” concerns?
(because 5 Service Members and the Media surely weren’t a threat)
Will the Media simply allow this type of Oppression via Censorship without legitimate justification in the US Government, and just go along with this?

A Non-Answer from a Whitehouse Spokesman just isn’t gonna cut it on this one.

Here’s a few contacts:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form11b.html?2

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10285339/

http://abc.go.com/site/contact-us

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Good job, Lt Choi and the rest of you– keep it in their faces and on their minds and on the consciences of America until justice is done. It won’t happen by all of us behaving like good little gays going meekly back into the closet so we don’t offend anyone.

Our very EXISTENCE is an offense.

There is nothing we can do or not do that will placate our detractors. Apparently Choi realizes that more than those among us who thnk if we are vewwy, vewwy quiet, we will be allowed the crumbs that fall from the table of society.

I[‘m 57 years old. I want to be able to hold my wife’s hand in public before I die. And I’m tired of being quiet, hoping I will be accepted. I’ll never be accepted, and I don’t give a damn anymore. I don’t care who likes it and who doesn’t.

Bravo Dan Choi! Keep up the good fight! Many of us would join you if we could.