Gay Pride At The Pentagon Is Not An Onion Headline

That's right...I had to do a double take when this story was first forwarded to me last night. But it's true, as CNN reports that the Pentagon, less than a year after "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was rescinded, will have a Gay Pride celebration for Department of Defense employees sometime this month.  Though there are scant details about what exactly that entails, it will be similar to celebrations for Black History month where the armed forces honor soldiers and civilians who have served. One doubts there will be a circuit party headlined by Martha Wash in the building's central courtyard.

The reason I find this story even more astounding is somewhat personal as well.  In a former life, I actually worked at the Pentagon for three summers as a paid intern in the DoD's Public Affairs office. Of course, there were gay people in the press office and in the armed forces at that time....particularly in the Air Force for some reason.  But it was all incredibly hush-hush. I remember one particularly flamboyant Army sergeant one summer who everyone talked about being gay, remarkably, without actually using the word "gay"; different, particular, cut-up, and yes....queen.

In my last year at the "Puzzle Palace", Dick Cheney was Secretary of Defense and my boss. I only had a couple encounters with him and he was surprisingly nice. His press secretary was Pete Williams was rumored to be gay and that was considered beyond shocking. Now apparently people feel free enough to go on Grindr at work and celebrate Pride (btw which are NOT the same thing).  I'm sure the DoD is still not the friendliest environment for LGBT folks, but it certainly has changed a great deal since I was there. That is for sure.

The Marine Kiss Seen Round The World

So forget Angelina's leg....here's the real viral pic of the week. This stunning photo of a military homecoming in Hawaii is such an unabashed display of love that it went viral after being posted on a Marine Facebook page over the weekend. It got liked more than 15,000 times and commented on 3,000 times.  It has become such a sensation that people wanted to know who these guys were. So now the guys have gone public with the real story behind the photo.

A local news station in Hawaii got the gay couple of four years to sit down and talk about how their photo shows that "love is love", as the Marine himself puts it.  What I love even more than their interview is the comment on all the hubub from a local Marine press rep: "It's your typical homecoming photo". True....not unlike an iconic photo taken in Times Square 65 years ago.

NEW YEAR'S SPECIAL: A Final Look Back At 2011

In my final post for 2011, I wanted to share this year's zeitgeist video made by the folks at Google which looks back on the past year in a musical and moving way.  I know it's basically an ad for Google and it's web services....but it's a damn good one!  I especially love the inclusion of the gay solider Randy Phillips telling his dad he's gay from back in September, just hours after Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed.

Anyway, 2011 was a clearly momentous news year in many ways that will not soon be forgotten, from the triumphs and tragedies of Arab Spring to the Occupy movement this fall.  In little under 3 minutes, this video captures the emotions of a remarkable year...

Gay Rights Pioneer Franklin Kameny, 1925-2011

One of the first proponents of equal rights for gays and lesbians, Franklin Kameny of Washington DC died yesterday at his home.  He was 86 years old and there is a full obituary at the Washington Blade's website today.

In 1958, after being discharged from the Army for being gay, Kameny started fighting the fight and rounding up protestors in respectable ties and jackets to picket the White House for equal rights.   In a time when "homosexuals" were considered deviant and their activities criminal, Kameny took to the streets in the spirits of the '60s to make his case for equal rights.

I wrote about Kameny last year when he attended President Obama's signing of the bill to end the military's discriminatory policy against gays and lesbians. And it's amazing that he died just a couple weeks after witnessing the official end of that policy which made him an activist.  He was a true pioneer for equal rights for gays and lesbians.

The End of Don't Ask Don't Tell....Finally

It's been a long time coming but the military's misguided and discriminatory policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has finally come to an end.  At the stroke of midnight Tuesday, the U.S. Army released a statement that gays can serve openly in the armed forces.  Other service branches are complying with this as well and it truly marks a turning point for the gay rights movement.

One of the more interesting stories about this development was in the TIMES yesterday.  It was about a military recruiter who set up a table at a gay center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Apparently, the Marines are taking the end of discrimination as an opportunity to actively recruit gays and lesbians.  Giving the fact that there are two wars on, recruiters have their work cut out for them.  And I secretly suspect that some of the impetus behind this policies' ultimate implementation was the basic math of the situation; the US simply could not afford to discharge anyone in a time when the forces are stretched tight in the war on terrorism.

Regardless, it's great news that we are now moving past this senseless debate on "gays in the military" (hello--they've always been there) and moving forward to fight the real battles that count.