Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyDecember 22nd, 2011
TODAY IN HISTORY:
President Obama Signs DADT Repeal Into Law: 2010. If it hadn’t been for President Barack Obama’s signature on the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 — and if it hadn’t been for the heroic efforts of Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) when all hope for DADT’s repeal appeared to be dead — the picture you see above would not have been possible. It is Navy tradition that when a ship returns home, a sailor is selected for the privilege of being the first off the ship and into the arms of a loved one for the first kiss home. Yesterday, the Navy’s tradition met another milestone in the post-DADT era when Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta was selected to disembark from the USS Oak Hill amphibious landing ship and run into the arms of her partner, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell. Gaeta won the honor from a raffle in which proceeds went to hosting a Christmas party for the children of sailors. Both women are Navy fire controlmen who maintain and operate weapons systems on ships. They’ve been together for two years, which they say was very difficult under DADT.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell officially came to an end on September 20. Since then, DADT’s end has been largely considered a non-event within the military. Even Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos, who had been on record as opposing DADT’s repeal, now says he is “very pleased with how it has gone.”
And now, here’s the video of yesterday’s “first kiss” from Virginia Beach.
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Dawn
December 22nd, 2011
I can’t see this picture enough.
Aeval
December 22nd, 2011
Would be great a desktop picture, anyone know where to find high res. of it?
Steve
December 22nd, 2011
On the Navy homepage of all places:
http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=112630
HiRes link is on the right side
Aeval
December 22nd, 2011
Yay.. thanks for the link Steve, you just made my day…
and I don’t day that to many men ;)
StraightGrandmother
December 22nd, 2011
Very uplifting story, we need more of this.
jpeckjr
December 22nd, 2011
You know, Virginia Beach is where Pat Robertson’s operation is headquartered. He must be very, very annoyed.
Good.
Welcome home, Marissa, and all our other service men and women, whatever your orientation.
Timothy Kincaid
December 22nd, 2011
It shouldn’t matter that the women are beautiful. But that fact that either of them on their own could make a straight man smile will – i suspect – make this picture easier to accept. The anti-gays won’t dare send this pic around – half their audience will involuntarily react with “hot!”
Priya Lynn
December 22nd, 2011
Timothy said “It shouldn’t matter that the women are beautiful. But that fact that either of them on their own could make a straight man smile will – i suspect – make this picture easier to accept. The anti-gays won’t dare send this pic around – half their audience will involuntarily react with “hot!â€.”.
I agree, that’s what I thought when I first saw the video.
Richard Rush
December 22nd, 2011
Timothy said,
Yes, exactly. If homosexuality only existed among women, there probably wouldn’t be any cultural conflict over it. And the fundamentalist Christians would be preaching that God created lesbians to provide some extra satisfaction for men. For a man, there’s nothing quite like fantasies of hot lesbian action to get things firmed up for routine sex with his wife.
Theo
December 22nd, 2011
It is a wonderful story and it illustrates very clearly how the repeal of DADT was a catastrophe for the anti-gay side. America loves its armed forces and now will get to know a whole group of gays and lesbians that are serving. The cumulative impact will make Ellen and Will and Grace look like trivial events by comparison.
One objection to this post: Although Obama signed the repeal, he did very little to make it happen and a number of things that nearly derailed it. It took his Pentagon a whole year to announce that they needed to study the issue and that that study would take until December 2010 to complete. That timetable was nearly fatal. The study itself was a degrading exercise, in which civilian family members were given the opportunity to weigh in on what “preparation”they would need to take if DADT were repealed. On the day of the first failed Senate vote, Obama failed to make a single telephone call to wavering Senators. But he did find time that day to call a women’s basketball team to congratulate them on a win.
Ultimately, it did get done, but event the final outcome is less than it might have been. As there is no anti-discrimination provision in the repeal law, the repeal could be undone by any future President. A cynical person might conclude that Obama preferred it this way, as it provides incentive for gays to stay in line and keep him in office for a second term.
Erin
December 23rd, 2011
I think, as far as acceptance goes, I hate the double standard that exists between gay men and lesbians as well as pretty femme lesbians and the stereotypical ones. That totally just shows me our culture still has a ways to go to get over it’s misogynistic ways. That being said…..holy god. Being a lesbian who is more into femmes, I think I have a crush on both these women. My partner agrees. Also, I think the photo is beautiful and would have been beautiful if it were two men or a butch and femme. OF course, I’m coming from a place where all visible, everyday evidence of progress for LGBT people is freaking beautiful. I like to watch the NY Senate video of the guy saying the measure passed and banging the gavel to an eruption of applause. It makes me well up every time.
WMDKitty
December 23rd, 2011
*sniffles*
*wipes eyes*
Beautiful…
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