When she saw him in the morning, Dan was still on the couch in front of the TV, speaking in fragments, muttering to himself, screaming obscenities, bursting into sobs. Now and then, he was mute, retreating to his bedroom with a bottle of scotch.
The Dan in that passage is Lt. Dan Choi, whom you may remember as the man whose striking and articulate activism helped get Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repealed. That activism, according to this American Prospect article by Gabriel Arana, has also taken an immense personal toll on the former soldier.
It’s a grim reminder that “Washington can make people, even those who fight for human rights, lose their humanity,” and the ending hasn’t turned out happy yet. (Via longform.org.)
