The US Navy enters the 21st Century.

[thedriver 6179]

Here is a new twist to the old Sailor homecoming story!

 

Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta, left, kisses her girlfriend of two years, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach, Va., Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2011 after Gaeta's ship returned from 80 days at sea. It ís a time-honored tradition at Navy homecomings - one lucky sailor is chosen to be first off the ship for the long-awaited kiss with a loved one. On Wednesday, for the first time, the happily reunited couple was gay.

 

[Phaedrus 209521]

Even better, in some reports 'girlfriend' was replaced with the more accurate 'fiancee' :)

[MightyPen 67414]

Yep, awesome stuff. I first saw that picture last week and it's still heartwarming. What a great picture of pure joy!

[Kubrickfan 12836]

I wonder if the reaction would have been as positive if it was a male couple. :icon_eek:

 

Just food for thought.

[drlove 37202]

They're hot!

[castle 38816]

I wonder if the reaction would have been as positive if it was a male couple. :icon_eek:

 

Just food for thought.

 

I was just wondering the same thing......in my experience, among predominantly male professions, lesbians will tend to be a lot more accepted than gay men.

 

It's an achievement for gays everywhere nonetheless. And makes me smile to see it :)

[Rassilon 982]

Kubrickfan:

 

I have no doubt you are correct and it made me wonder if the couple was chosen for both their sex and their attractiveness in order to generate positive publicity. However I do not want to over-think it to the point where I am being dismissive of Petty Officers Gaeta and Snell. They deserve congratulations for the historic event and their bravery of making a gay kiss in public where they were.

 

Your point makes my brain hurt even more when I think of the long standing bigotry of the US military. If you are a man, like the majority of the people who set the rules, and you look at that photo and do not think it is awesome, then you are gay -in which case you should have sympathy for those the rules affect.

 

I should rephrase my first sentence in the above paragraph, as a study showed (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/30/us-military-gay-reform-poll) that the majority of US forces personnel are fine with serving with homosexuals. It is the politicians who create the rules that held things back.