Brody's Notes... GetEqual Activists Handcuff Themselves To White House Fence Today At Noon

GetEqual Protestors Handcuffed To White House Fence 
Photo By Kerry Eleveld  The Advocate

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Apr 20 | {BREAKING} Six protestors in U. S. Military Uniforms handcuffed themselves to the fence in front of the White House at noon today calling on President Barack Obama to take action on the omnibus defence authorisation bill pending in Congress to include a repeal of "Don't Ask-Don't Tell. Police did not realise the group had handcuffed themselves to the fence for several minutes.

The protest was led by Lt. Dan Choi who was arrested last month for performing a similar protest. Choi called out to the crowd:

“We call on our commander in chief, the president of the United States to take bold action, to show firm resolve and real leadership on his promise to repeal 'don’t ask, don’t tell,'" Choi said. "To make good on that promise, he has an opportunity to transmit to Congress for the defense authorization bill repeal language.”

Members of the White Press corps immediately converged on the scene 15 yards east of the Appointments Gate on the north-side of the White House to cover this story with network cameras and print media jostling each other for a good position. The protestors were surrounded by approximately 100 or so tourists and others who apparently were there in support followed by a quickly responding contingent of U. S. Secret Service Uniformed Officers joined by U. S. Park Police and DC police officers.

A Man in the Crowd yelled out; " Time for president [Obama] to grow some balls on this issue." A reporter asked Choi, “Do you feel the president has let you down on this issue?” Choi refused to answer and stayed silent for the rest of the action. His colleagues chanted "Right here, Right now, I deserve full equality" interchanging the slogan with "I am, somebody, I deserve full equality."

Secret Service cleared the sidewalk and pushed the crowd back north across Pennsylvania Avenue into Lafayette Park past the equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson sealing off the south side of the park and set up a perimeter in front of the protest also confining the press back out of the way. A paddy wagon was called to the scene and all 6 were placed in the vehicle at approximately 1:14PM-EST.

A media statement released concurrently with the protest from militant LGBT activist group GetEqual read:

"Our hopes swelled when President Obama promised at the State of the Union to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT), the policy that discriminates against lesbian and gay servicemembers. But his words mean nothing without action. And he has an opportunity to take action right now. The Defense Authorization Bill (DAB) provides funding for all military operations, and it will soon be up for renewal. President Obama knows that the DAB provides a way to repeal DADT immediately. And he knows that repealing the policy quickly and decisively is the right thing to do for LGBT servicemembers and for all of the armed forces. But recent reports suggest that the Administration is trying to delay any law change until December or even later. Join us in supporting Lt. Dan Choi, Capt. Jim Pietrangelo, Petty Officer Larry Whitt, Petty Officer Autumn Sandeen, Cadet Mara Boyd, and Cpl. Evelyn Thomas as they take action at the White House to demand that DADT be repealed through this year's DAB."