More LGBT Activists Arrested at White House Protest after Howard Dean Addresses Crowd

Activists from GetEqual and Queer Rising staged another "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" protest rally on Sunday in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House.

The rally was attended by dozens of LGBT activists, including Lt. Dan Choi, who has been arrested twice for handcuffing himself to the White House fence and Queer Rising's Justin Elzie, who was arrested on Valentine's Day for chaining himself to the railing outside the New York City Marriage Bureau while protesting discriminatory marriage laws. Elzie was discharged from the Marines in 1993 after coming out publicly on the ABC Evening News with Peter Jennings in the first public protest of DADT.

In a surprise move, former governor/DNC Chairman/presidential candidate Howard Dean showed up to address the crowd and lend his support for repeal of DADT. (Justin Elzie is the cute bear in the lavender shirt introducing Gov. Dean in the video clip.)

After Dean's impromptu speech, six protesters handcuffed themselves to the fence outside the White House. According to GetEqual's Facebook page, Mark Reed, Natasha Dillon, Alan Bounville, Nora Camp, Lana Dibona and Anne Tischer were held overnight and are expected to appear before a judge this morning.

The following video was filmed by John Aravosis of AmericaBlog.

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