This afternoon, Lt. Dan Choi appeared on MSNBC with Contessa Brewer to discuss yesterday’s court ruling striking down the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy on the grounds that it violates the due process cluse of the Fifth Amendment and abridges servicemembers’ First Amendment rights:

BREWER: [Judge Phillips] says it bars people from enjoying intimate conduct and bars them from speaking about their loved ones while serving in uniform. It bans them from including information in a personal communication that could reveal their homosexuality. If you’re deployed, you’re away from your support system. That’s a severe impediment to dealing effectively, operating effectively in our nation’s armed forces. But she says she’s not going to issue a final ruling for two weeks. What should happen right now from our nation’s leaders not just this judge?

CHOI: You’re absolutely right, for our soldiers not only in combat but back home that have to deal with so many issues of posttraumatic stress, depression, suicide, which is skyrocketing. I don’t see how they could stand by. But if the President and his Justice Department do not appeal, lift a finter, waste any energy, waste any statement or waste any money defending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, then what we might see is an absolute victory not only for gay veterans but for our whole military. We don’t have to fire people for being honest. We can bolster and reiterate not only our Bill of Rights and Constitution but that American value of love.

Watch it:

Indeed, while the Justice Department is still reviewing the decision and considering whether or not to appeal the ruling to the Ninth Circuit, at least two Democratic Senators are pressuring the Senate to pass the Defense Authorization Bill, which includes an amendment that begins the process of repeal. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) tweeted this last night that she hopes “DOJ does not appeal” and Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) called on Congress to “repeal it to improve natl security.”

Meanwhile, New York Magazine observes that the “ruling presents both a problem and an opportunity for Obama.” “With Democrats heading into what might just be a lame-duck session in the House (leading up to November elections, during which they very well may lose the majority), this might provide a last-minute chance to finally enact change on a policy many of them have vowed to end.” “If the Justice Department simply doesn’t appeal the case after this ruling, ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ might just go away. If Obama waits for Congress to address the issue, a Republican-led house might reject an overturn.”

Once Phillips enters her judgment, “she can either permit it to take effect immediately, stay it while the decision is on appeal, or temporarily stay it to give the Ninth Circuit an opportunity to rule on whether her decision should be stayed during the appeal.” “Because this is a facial challenge, not just an as-applied challenge, if the decision is upheld on appeal, it will apply to the whole country and will be the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Lt. Dan Choi — the DADT advocate who was discharged from the military after he came out as gay on The Rachel Maddow Show — appeared on CNN’s The Situation Room yesterday to discuss his recent call back to training with the National Guard. “Essentially, my commander says, we’re going to war and we need all of the capable soldiers that we could get to train with us,” Choi explained.

Choi said he knew other gay soldiers who were in the process of being discharged but “had been told by their commanders” to come back for the time being. “I know of some of them that are out there. And there’s a lot of people that are in their units that I — I think they realize, look, we’re in a time of war, we’ve got to have everybody that we can.” Asked if anyone was uncomfortable about his return, Choi responded firmly:

BLITZER: Was anyone hostile or seemingly uncomfortable?

CHOI: Absolutely not. And here’s the thing, when you assume that people would do that, when you assume that people would be uncomfortable and quit, you are insulting soldiers in the most treacherous way. I can’t believe there are people that are saying a soldier would quit. You want to insult a soldier in the worst way, tell him he’s going to quit. Call him a quitter.

Watch it:

Choi emphasized that “there are people that are openly gay in their units right now” but stressed that they are not exceptions to the policy. “I could get fired right after I walk off the set here,” he said.

“I want to send a message to all the senators and the Congress that I’m watching them. And my promise remains — I will hold everyone accountable until we can, as Admiral Mullen said, have an organization and an institution that lives by those values of integrity.”

The Bilerico Project is reporting that Lt. Dan Choi — a DADT advocate who was discharged from the military after he came out as gay on The Rachel Maddow Show — has been called to “attend training” with his National Guard unit. “Apparently, Lt. Choi’s commander has always been in full support of him, and even after Lt. Choi came out on The Rachel Maddow Show, his commander did not press for his discharge,” Jeff Sheng, a BP contributor who spoke to Choi, explains. “The military did eventually serve Lt. Choi a discharge notification – essentially firing him from his job, but he was allowed to fight this at trial, and as it currently stands, the discharge has not been finalized“:

I was heartened though to hear Lt. Choi’s response, when I asked him what he thinks his new voice might be as the repeal of DADT takes shape. He spoke about perhaps helping the military implement a future non-discrimination policy, and advising in issues involving sensitivity trainings on LGBT issues. But the comment that struck me the most was when he said, “Actions speak louder than words.” It made sense all of a sudden, that the sheer act of him rejoining his unit and serving with everyone else, could be his most powerful voice in the debate so far. That seeing an openly gay service member train and fight with his unit, is something that truly does speak louder than words.

Alex Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United, clarifies that Choi has not been re-called or activated for active duty, as some have reported. Rather, “Choi is still in the New York Army National Guard, so he is completing a regularly scheduled drill weekend, which he has continued to do all along.” “This is still significant because he is continuing his regularly scheduled drills with his unit with the full support of his command, peers, and subordinates,” Nicholson wrote in an email. Indeed, Choi’s participation in the drill reaffirms what Choi himself has suspected — soldiers “care about what a person can do for the team. We’re in a time of war. We have bigger things to worry about than people being gay.”

Choi “served as an infantry officer, translator and language instructor in Iraq in 2006 and 2007.” Under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the army “has discharged 59 gay Arabic linguists and nine gay Farsi linguists in the last five years, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defence Network.”