Photo by Brian Clark | The Virginian-Pilot
As widely reported, yesterday morning two lesbians became the first same-sex couple to get the traditional dockside first kiss when an officer returns home from sea. After 80 days away, Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta embraced her waiting girlfriend Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell, 22. Gaeta got the honor by winning the on-board lottery, having bought fifty tickets at a dollar each. (Other sailors purchased more than one hundred tickets each.) The couple has been dating for a little more than two years, since they were roommates at their first training school after boot camp. Of their official kiss Gaeta said, “It's a big deal. It’s nice to be able to be myself. It’s been a long time coming.” Snell said, "This is the first time we can actually show who we are."
By coincidence, it's the one year anniversary of Obama signing the DADT repeal. NBC News reports that the haters were wrong: "But the chaos they predicted if openly gay and lesbian soldiers served in close quarters during combat never happened." Watch the segment featuring out gay soldiers in Afghanistan.
To see how far we've come, revisit Christopher Bram's gay sailor / gay brothel / WWII spy novel Hold Tight.
Comments