Lt Dan Choi: You Ask, He Will Tell

Last week I went to see Lt Dan Choi talk at the Union. He was discharged from the army after revealing on a tv talk show that he was gay. I thought his story sounded interesting. As a speaker, Choi was fantastic. He started with an anecdote from his deployment to Iraq, which he told really well. He was easy to listen to and got my attention by starting quietly and then raising his voice. Choi told a lot of jokes, which made all of his painful life experiences seem less serious and easier to talk about.

I was a little disappointed though, because I went in expecting him to talk about his experience in the army and his views about the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. Except for a story in the beginning, Choi didn't mention it all. He talked mostly about his issues with his family, friends, and today's society. He tried to use past civil rights movements for comparison with today's gay rights, but it didn't really work. For example, instead of the 60's (I remember he mentioned Martin Luther King once) he tried to use slavery as a comparison to the way gay people are treated. Also, when mentioning all the civil rights movements that have ever occurred in America, he completely left out women as a group who were oppressed. There was one point during the presentation when I was a little uncomfortable. Choi wanted everyone to stand up and join him in a kind of oath "I am a person..." It made me feel like I was in church.

Overall, Choi was an interesting guy to listen to, but I wish he had actually talked more about his views on what can be done for gay right's, as opposed to just repeating over and over that there's a problem.