Did Dan Choi Have to Use Sexist Slurs to Defend DADT Repeal?

Lt. Dan Choi.

He's an Arabic Linguist, accomplished soldier, West Point Grad, and unapologetic Champion of LGBTQ rights and the DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) repeal. He isn't a poster boy to either the military or the mainstream LGBTQ rights movement, but he has been a force for reconciling their common interests. However, he seems to have gotten himself into a bit of a verbal pickle as of late.

That's right, the same Lieutenant who can be seen next to Pam's House Blend's very own Autumn Sandeen, chained to a White House fence in the name of equality in the military, still seems to have some searching to do when it comes to propagating deeply ingrained misogynistic attitudes about women.

The fuss started when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made a bold move and attached the repeal of DADT(DP) to the Defense Appropriations Act, which was filibustered down by Republicans. This was a move that should have shown Republicans as transparent, since this bill is passed routinely for years. It also contained many things that Republicans demanded be included themselves, such as the right to not Mirandize Al Qaeda detainees. True story. But when Choi held Reid responsible, he said Reid was a "pussy and he will be bleeding once a month."

Not wanting to veer off about how my own "pussy" is, in fact, pretty damned strong, having forced a human out of it and recovered ... I will move on.

What Choi has done here is promulgated an idea that is very dominant in military culture, whether he believes himself to be part of the dominant narrative or not. According to Helen Benedict, the language that we use regarding women while in the military is, at its core, why military men rape. We also see that when an institution condones behavior (like allowing sexist language as tools at bootcamps, Initial Entry Training, or "A" schools), the behavior becomes part of that institution's culture.

Undoubtedly, Choi himself heard this and hate-speech directed at his own axis of oppression, being a gay man, while on active duty. This does not excuse the way that he has used sexist language to build a hierarchy of oppression, intentional or not, to propel his cause forward. He did make his way into the spotlight with his sexist speech, but I don't imagine it was the kind of press he wanted.

This is why I stand with the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN), with the open letter they have written to Lt. Dan Choi in an effort to ask him to make a formal apology for his words. As a veteran, a fellow former linguist, and as a woman, who stands on an axis of oppression and who also pushes for the repeal of DADT, I don't believe that belittling one group of people is the way to further the rights of another.

Lt. Dan Choi, please apologize for the harmful and outright hateful words you aimed at Harry Reid. Being a woman is not an insult, and using her body parts as a way to disparage a man is not a way to get your point across.

Photo Credit: Boss Tweed