MTV Challenge 2 – “Moved” Supporting Lt. Dan Choi and #JT4Choi

When Challenge 2 was posted at 12:00am on Friday I had no idea it would lead to some pretty amazing things.

Challenge 2 asked us to find a cause we believe in, and create a unique hashtag for that cause. I chose to support Lt. Dan Choi in the fight for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Lt. Dan Choi has inspired not only me, but so many millions of others in this nation for his efforts on repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Lt. Dan Choi was fired from the military for being openly gay. Instead of sulking, and turning the decision in to a memory, he decided to make it his future. He has spent literally every day since his discharge fighting and advocating for what so many millions of people view as a discriminatory, segregating policy. Dan Choi inspires me because he is an American hero in every sense of the word. He has laid his life on the line on the front lines of combat, as well as the front lines in the fight for equality. Our children and grandchildren will be reading about him in history books for the rest of history.

This cause is something EVERYONE is talking about these days, gay, straight, black, white, you name it.

After only a few hours of campaigning my hashtag #JT4Choi, I saw that I was mentioned in one of Lt. Dan Choi’s tweets!

Yes, let’s do thrash DADT! I was absolutely blown away that he would not only support me and my advocacy, but come up with a hilarious way to use my last name! I had thought about using #ThrashDADT as my hashtag, but I really wanted to incorporate Lt. Choi and promote him and his hard work.

Just when I was coming down off of my 2 day buzz of being mentioned in his Tweet I get a text message from my friend Andrew saying, “I can’t believe Lt. Choi mentioned you again!”

I was driving back home to do some work for other MTV stuff, and I freaked out! I immediately got on Twitter (don’t text and drive!) and saw that he wrote to President Obama and not only included my Twitter name but the hashtag #JT4Choi as well!!!

Lt. Dan Choi is tweeting to me and Barack Obama in the same tweet? AM I DREAMING?

Andrew (@ajoycewvu) then texted me with something that really made me realize my place in all of this Challenge 2 campagining:

As exciting as all of this is, it’s very important to remember the cause at hand. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and the ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS survey that was handed out to military members over the last week, is something that needs as much attention as we can give it. It’s sickening, wrong, and immoral.

I asked my Twitter followers what they thought of Lt. Dan Choi and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and here were some of the ones that really stuck out to me:

I even had the support of a fellow MTV TJ candidate, Ryan Lytle. Thanks Ryan!

I’m soooooooo grateful to not only have Lt. Dan Choi supporting me, but to have the opportunity to use my online voice in such a positive, amazing, progressive way! Even though this challenge ends tonight at midnight, let’s not forget to keep the ball rolling so that we can repeal the treachery that is Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell!

Also don’t forget to catch Lt. Dan Choi on MSNBC tomorrow (Monday) morning at 10:30am to hear what he has to say about the ridiculous survey being sent out to the military regarding how they perceive using open bay showers, among other ridiculous things.