I get emails:

Laffy,

The Army is sending bill collectors after Lt. Dan Choi.

They claim Dan owes them $2,500 for leaving the military early.  (And other gay service members have been charged nearly $100,000 to repay their “wasted” education and training.)

Yes, Dan did leave early and his training has been wasted — because the Pentagon kicked him out for being gay. Now they have the nerve to blame him for it and demand reparations from a guy out of a job?

Tell Defense Secretary Gates to stop sending bill collectors after Dan, or any other veteran discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

During congressional hearings, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mullen spoke of the integrity of our servicemembers as a reason why “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” should be repealed.

But where is the integrity in demanding soldiers, who are involuntarily discharged, to pay a penalty for telling the truth?

Secretary Gates has the power to immediately halt this retribution, as does his boss, President Obama.

We’ve heard from the White House many times in the past after they read posts on our blog. They’re paying attention. Now, we need to let them know people like you are paying attention too — so we’ll keep updating our blog with the momentum we’re building with our open letter.

The more signers we have, the more of an impact we’ll make. Together, we’ll keep the pressure on until the White House and the Pentagon call off the bill collectors and start respecting our gay veterans.

Can you help us ensure that the White House can’t ignore our concerns? Click here to sign the letter.

Dan has stood by all of us, putting his life on the line for our country, and his career on the line for our community. It’s time we returned the favor.

Stand up for Dan and demand that Secretary Gates stop sending bills to servicemembers involuntarily discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Thanks for helping us stop this injustice,

John Aravosis and Joe Sudbay, AMERICAblog