Below The Beltway

The increasingly anachronistic “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy has claimed another victim:

Dan Choi, an Iraq war veteran and 2003 graduate of West Point, was ordered out of the U.S. military last week after publicly announcing in March that he is gay.

Choi, 28, who is fluent in Arabic, left active duty to join the New York National Guard in June 2008. Choi is being discharged for violating the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which dates back to the Clinton administration. The policy allows for men and women to serve as long as they do not disclose their sexual orientation. Since it was enacted, gay civil rights advocates have been pushing for its abolition.

Choi kept his sexual orientation a secret when he joined the military, but decided to go public after starting his first relationship with a man.

“Integrity and honor and telling the truth — those are 24-hour operations, those are seven-days-a-week operations,” Choi said. “You can’t just choose when you tell the truth, especially about something so important that makes you a whole person.”

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“[Soldiers are] getting blown up and shot at, and we got through things together,” Choi said. “You don’t care — the person on your right and left — what their sexual orientation is. You work together, and that diversity actually helps to build a unit.”

Choi said he is being discharged for “being honest,” and that he was judged only for his words of truth, not his actions.

“[Telling the truth] makes me a better person. It makes me a better citizen. It makes me a better Christian. It makes me a better soldier.”

Choi’s case isn’t an isolated one by far. Back in January, the Army let go more than 100 soldiers who had allegedly violated the policy, and, since it has been in place, the policy has led to the discharge of more than 13,000 members of the armed forces. All this while numerous former officers, along with two former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, John Shalikashvili and Colin Powell, have said that it’s time for the policy to be reviewed and repealed.