Lt. Dan Choi Officially Fired by National Guard

We’ve been waiting for the ax to fall for over a year, and Brigadier General Patrick A. Murphy has finally done it. He’s finished the job of firing Lt. Dan Choi for being gay.

Lt. Choi appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show last night to talk about his firing.

I’m not going to lie; I cried at the end of the interview as these two heroes of the LGBT community paid respect to each other. I know some in the community are frustrated with Rachel’s less aggressive stance, but as Dan said, she has been on this story for a long time, always willing to bring the unvarnished truth about DADT to millions of homes. Rachel Maddow has talked more about the absurdity of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the last 18 months than all the rest of cable news combined.

Here’s the important line from the letter that Lt. Choi got on Thursday. This is the unmitigated bigotry that the US government pretends is a respectful end to a soldier’s career after serving his country for over a decade.

Based on the approved board findings that 1LT Choi did publicly admit…that he is a homosexual…I direct 1LT Choi be discharge (sic) from the New York Army National Guard with an Honorable characterization of service.

PATRICK A. MURPHY
Brigadier General, NYARNG
The Adjutant General

But as Lt. Choi said, this is not the end. His voice will continue to be heard as he holds Congress’ and President Obama’s feet to the fire, telling them in no uncertain terms that their job is to do the right thing.

Whatever you do, don't hide.