Dan Choi, the poster child for repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” who recently, albeit unsuccessfully, tried to be re-instated in the Army, is a hero to many in part thanks to his outspokenness. But last week, his outspoken nature got him into a great deal of hot water. In “Bad Lieutenant, Dan Choi,” an in-depth interview with Village Voice writer Steven Thrasher, Choi said, “Harry Reid is a pussy and he’ll be bleeding once a month.”
Immediately, there was outrage across the spectrum. Choi, somewhat defiantly, apologized, calling himself a feminist, and, via Twitter, stating, “Go ahead: call me a ‘misogynist.’ I’m still pro-choice, pro-ERA. I also happen to think @HarryReid is a #DADT #FAIL.” While he later removed that statement from Twitter, and added, “I appreciate your criticism; I apologize for using the slur, and resolve to educate others in any capacity I’m afforded in the future,” many were not satisfied.
Among those not satisfied are four womens’, service members’, and LGBT groups, and they have today sent Choi a letter demanding an apology and offering education.
Here’s the text of the letter:
AN OPEN LETTER TO DAN CHOI
Dear Dan,
The Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) and the undersigned advocacy
organizations were shocked and extremely disappointed by your comments
about women in your recent interview in the Village Voice. You should
know as we do that there is no room for misogyny, racism or other
forms of hate speech among people who are working to end
discrimination and bring about equality in the military, and
throughout society.
Your comments about women are irresponsible, indefensible and
inexcusable, and you should publicly acknowledge that fact. As a
human rights advocate, you should know that degrading one group of
people to promote the rights of another disserves everyone. Your
sexist comments also undermine SWAN’s efforts to achieve our policy
objectives, which include promoting equality for all servicemembers.
As an organization that advocates for equal opportunity for all
servicemembers and veterans, SWAN is keenly aware that there is still
a tremendous amount of misogyny both within the military and the LGBTQ
community, and that misogynistic and homophobic language is rampant in
the military. Comments denigrating women’s bodies, or suggesting that
simply being a woman is abhorrent, are unacceptable. Unfortunately,
this type of language is all too familiar to women in the military.
As a direct result of misogynistic language, a hostile work
environment for servicewomen–both heterosexual and lesbian–is
allowed to thrive. Hate crimes, sexual harassment, lesbian-baiting,
gay-bashing and sexual assault have flourished. Adopting and
promulgating hate-filled speech against women only serves to increase
the danger that servicewomen and LGBTQ servicemembers face on a daily
basis.
We must hold you accountable for what you say as a spokesperson for
equality. We encourage you to render a genuine apology, rather than a
half-hearted, perfunctory tweet on Twitter. We also encourage you to
discuss this issue with us further. It is part of our mission to
educate the public about the serious challenges facing military women
and women veterans, and we’d be more than happy to assist you in
deepening your understanding of these issues.
Service Women’s Action Network
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
There will be more here shortly, including statements and analysis from our own Tanya Domi, a former Army Captain and former legislative director at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
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{ 8 comments }
We have a nasty habit of expecting our leaders to be two-dimensional and always on-message, and we tear them down when they deviate that script. I'll take three-dimensional over predictable any day.
And let's not kid ourselves. This has less to do with "correcting" Lt. Choi's statement than it does with national lobbying organizations that he's bucked in the recent past finding a way to show him who's in charge.
He said something stupid in (as I read it) a private conversation that will be seen by a relative few and made an apology that will be seen by a couple hundred times more people. Far as I'm concerned, it's done. Frankly, we all have bigger fish to fry right now.
We also have a nasty habit of excusing sexism.
Would be very curious to know if Anuradha K. Bhagwati, Kate Kendell, Rea Carey and Aubrey Sarvis each picked up their phones to call Dan Choi to express their concerns.
Would be curious to know if he has given them his phone number.
Thank you Justin. Dan is a leader which is why his comments were so hurtful and why a true desire to learn why can be so powerful.
As recently as a week or so ago, Lt. Choi has been extremely critical of SLDN's continued advice to soldiers to stay in the closet, and IIRC used to be represented by them.
@ Matt, your correct Dan has said one thing critical of SLDN's strategy, but not the organization itself, and SLDN has never criticized Dan. HRC has criticized Dan and other veterans. Your blanket statement took in all of these groups and none of them fit into that category to backup your statement. It should also be noted that the group that he has criticized the most and that has criticized him, HRC is not on the list. HRC never has represented SLDN or veterans no matter how they try to portray that. I know because I know everyone involved. So your assumption is incorrect that this is about settling scores with Dan. I am sure that will come later, but these groups don't fit that mold like HRC does.
@ Matt, I also want to mention here what I told a fellow gay man today, that didn't think Dan's statement was misogynistic and not that big a deal. Because that is what this is about and not how any group feels about Dan or how Dan feels about any group. That is a bogus argument that takes our eyes off the real ball and that is his statement was misogynistic and was hurtful to a lot of people in our community. The definition of a male who is a misogynist is a male that believes that women are the lesser sex. Dan’s language reflects a view of women as a lesser sex in its derogatory language. I look at this and think that if a prominent female in our movement would have said something similarly derogatory about men and butt sex and the cleaning out of fecal matter before having sex, then you can imagine the uproar that would have happened in the gay male community.
Dan is a good man and he will get past this, but he needs to reach out to people to apologize.
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