In Honor of Memorial Day Weekend

This post is for all the soldiers who died fighting for our freedoms. More than we will ever know, we're gay soldiers who fought even though they were banned from doing so because of their sexuality. Now soldiers can finally serve open and honestly and those deaths were not in vain.


Footage of a heartwarming reunion between a gay U.S. Navy seaman and his boyfriend is making the blogosphere rounds.

The sailor, identified in the video simply as Trent, had been deployed on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson for nearly six months, according to Towleroad. Waiting for Trent amongst the friends and family at the Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, Calif. was his boyfriend, Lee.

As he waits, an "ecstatic" Lee nervously checks his phone repeatedly before finally greeting Trent with a passionate smooch -- yet another poignant reminder of the progress made since the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" last fall.

When the narrator asks Trent what he plans to do when he retires from military service in 10 months, he gleefully replies, "Go to Disneyland!"


U.S. Air Force Academy Graduates First Openly Gay Cadets

In yet another historic, post-"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" moment, the U.S. Air Force Academy graduated the nation's first group of openly gay cadets this week.

ABC News' Devin Dwyer caught up with faculty members and some of the graduates, each of which shook hands with President Obama during the ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colo. Aside from the fact that openly gay members were among the ranks, most cadets interviewed said the impact from last year's repeal was relatively minimal.

"It's pretty much just like any other repeal," one cadet said. "We just got told that this is what's gonna happen, and we all need to be adults about it."

Though several media outlets have noted the lack of rainbow flags or other obvious lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pride-relevant symbols during the ceremony, Trish Heller -- who heads the Blue Alliance, an association of LGBT Air Force Academy alumni -- said the reason was obvious.

"The whole thing is we don’t want to be identified as anything different," Heller is quoted by ABC as saying. She noted that her group had connected with at least four members of the class of 2012 who had come out publicly as LGBT, though others likely preferred to keep a low profile. "We want to serve, to be professional and to be symbols of what it means to be Air Force Academy graduates."