Tuck Pride and Tuck News Hour Hosted Guest Speakers

Tuck Students heard from Marc Solomon, a leader of the marriage equality movement and Lt. Dan Choi who played a public role in the repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell."

Conversation with Marc Solomon

Tuck Pride and Tuck News Hour presented a conversation with Marc Solomon, a leader of the marriage equality movement in the United States, on Wednesday, May 1. Marc shared his thoughts on the status of the marriage equality movement in the United States, including the business case for marriage equality and the importance of the two cases currently being debated by the U.S. Supreme Court.  Marc is currently the National Campaign Director for Freedom to Marry and was awarded the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Award for his leadership “with respect to democracy, justice, individual freedoms, and citizenship.” 

Marc graduated Magna Cum Laude with Honors in Political Science and Economics from Yale University and holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. In 1999, the Rockefeller Foundation named Marc one of America’s next generation leaders.  Most recently, Marc was awarded the Congressman Gerry E. Studds Visibility Award, an award that “honors individuals of integrity and selflessness who embody the spirit of service and provide positive leadership for the LGBT community.”

Coffee Chat with Lt. Dan Choi

Lt. Dan Choi was on Tuck’s campus to meet with students on Wednesday, May 1.  Lt. Dan Choi is a former American infantry officer in the United States Army who served in combat in the Iraq war during 2006-2007.  He is an LGBT rights activist and became a public face of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) when he came out on the Rachel Maddow Show in March 2009.  Despite being a graduate of West Point and having served his country honorably in a foreign war, Lt. Choi received a discharge letter immediately following his coming out.  Simply because he was gay, he was deemed unfit to serve his country. Lt. Choi wrote a letter to President Obama stating, DADT is, "a slap in the face to me. It is a slap in the face to my soldiers, peers and leaders who have demonstrated that an infantry unit can be professional enough to accept diversity, to accept capable leaders, to accept skilled soldiers."  DADT officially was repealed in September 2011.