Choi, a well-known activist widely credited with helping catalyze the policy's repeal, spoke in a lecture as part of both Pride Week and Asian-Pacific Heritage month. His talk, peppered with humor and rhetorical force, decried continued homophobia in the United States and addressed his identity as a gay Asian-American.
The day Choi was arrested, the policemen attempted to negotiate with him and another man he was protesting with, but Choi did not budge.
"We're going to be the freest people in that jail," he said.
Choi tied his experience fighting in a guerilla war to acting as an insurgent activist. For Choi, LGBT rights are an issue of fundamental equality for all people in the U.S.
"If gay people are not equal in this country, then straight people are not equal either," he said. "You don't have to be in a Dartmouth math class to understand that equation works both ways."
Choi humorously added that the straight community "birthed" the gay movement, since LGBT community members were, for the most part, born to straight parents.
Choi said he had trouble explaining his sexuality to his religious Korean parents, particularly because his father was a Baptist minister.
"I prayed every day let me wake up one day and pop a boner for Michelle Pfeiffer," he recalled telling his mother, eliciting much laughter from the audience.
Choi had audience members declare, "I am somebody," and contended that future generations will judge those who do not actively pursue justice for the LGBT community. College students will be the ones to set the agenda for LGBT rights, he said.
Choi implored those in attendance to stand up for their peers and disregard any authority figure who preaches caution.
"These people feel that they are smarter, they are wiser, because they have a title to their name," he said. "Fuck them, and not in the good way." During the question and answer session following the lecture, Choi asked straight male audience members to come to the stage and hold hands. He asked the men who let their hands fall away to question that decision.
"I want you to remember that you got so uncomfortable for whatever reason now you know there is an issue," he said.
Regarding the protests and subsequent backlash that have rocked Dartmouth's campus over the past few weeks, Choi asked administrators to avoid "cutting and pasting" solutions from other campuses.
A student asked Choi how he reconciled his involvement in the United States military "imperialism" with his status as a member of an oppressed community. Choi noted that he was especially uncomfortable killing people since his mother was a war orphan.
Several audience members said that they appreciated Choi's honesty and frank speaking style.
Janet Kim '13, also a Korean-American, said she was impressed by Choi's ability to articulate how identities are interconnected and his clear call to action.
"That's really a wakeup call that all students here have to listen to," she said.
Jackie Kikuchi Med'15, who plans to become a military doctor when she graduates, said she hopes to help all oppressed by the military.
Aaron Grober Med'15, the leader of qMD, Geisel School of Medicine's LGBT organization, praised Choi's impassioned speech. As a future health care provider, Grober said he will encounter patients of all identities and seeks to inculcate an "intolerance for intolerance."
Choi was the keynote speaker for Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, presented by the Pan Asian Council and the Office of Pan Asian Student Advising.
