Edited sentence: Choi graduated from the United States Military Academy in 2003 with degrees in Arabic and environmental engineering.Choi is the son of a Korean American Baptist minister.Choi served as an infantry officer in Iraq in 2006 and 2007.Daniel Choi (born 1981) is a United States Army combat veteran of the Iraq war who served as an infantry officer.Despite his appeal and a Courage Campaign petition signed by almost 162,000 people, on June 30, 2009, a panel of New York National Guard officers recommended that Choi be discharged from the military.Following his appearance on the The Rachel Maddow Show, in which he came out of the closet, Choi received his discharge letter.He has become known for challenging America's policy regarding gays serving in its military when he came out of the closet on March 20, 2009 in an appearance the The Rachel Maddow Show.He was one of the founding members of West Point's LGBT support group, Knights Out.In June 2008, he transferred from active duty Army to the New York National Guard.In addition, Choi spoke at the 2009 Pride Rally in New York City and will serve as a Grand Marshal in San Francisco's 2009 Gay Pride Parade.In response, Choi penned an open letter to U.In the letter, Choi challenged the morality and wisdom of the Don't ask, don't tell policy, by writing that the policy 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.On July 16, 2009 Choi was in Culver City, California to introduce the premiere of an Abe Forman-Greenwald documentary called Silent partners.On May 27, 2009, he addressed a demonstration of gay activists outside the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where President Barack Obama was speaking at a Democratic National Committee fund raising event.President Barack Obama and the United States Congress.Since coming out, 1LT Choi has spoken at numerous gay rights events, including a march in Los Angeles following the California Supreme Court's affirmation of Proposition 8.Since the show, he has become an LGBT rights activist.The documentary is the fourth episode of the In Their Boots series, with the episode focusing on the partners of LGBT soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.The final decision, to be made by the commander of First Army and the chief of the National Guard Bureau, is still pending