Lt Dan Choi I Feel So Betrayed

Lt. Dan Choi is profiled in the week's copy of Newsweek, recounting what really happened to him after he was arrested at the White House gates and spent the night in jail.

Choi tells the magazine he was denied a phone call and at numerous points throughout the interview, slams the Human Rights Campaign.

Some highlights:

"Within the gay community so many leaders want acceptance from polite society. I think there's been a betrayal of what is down inside of us in order to achieve what looks popular, what looks enviable. The movement seems to be centered around how to become an elite. There is a deep schism [in the gay-rights movement], everyone knows this. But this shouldn't be about which group has better branding. There is a tremor right now in every gay and transgender youth that these groups are not grasping. I would say to them--you do not represent us if all you are looking for is a ladder in to elite society."

"Ghandi (sic) did not need three-course dinners and a cocktail party to get his message out."

"When I heard Kathy Griffin was going to be a spokeswoman for Don't Ask, Don't Tell, I wondered about that. I have great respect for her as an advocate. But if [the Human Rights Campaign] thinks that having a rally at Freedom Plaza with a comedienne is the right approach, I have to wonder. Don't Ask, Don't Tell is not a joking matter to me. To be at Freedom Plaza and not at the White House or Congress? Who are they trying to influence? I felt like they were just trying to speak to themselves. If that's the best the lobbying groups and HRC can do, then I don't know how these powerful groups are supposed to represent our community. Kathy Griffin and [HRC president] Jay (sic) Solmonese said they would march with me to the White House but didn't. I feel so betrayed by them."

Read the full interview here.