Do tell

Today marks the full repeal of what came to be known as the Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) policy preventing gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.  Over the years it has become painfully obvious, quite painfully actually for many, that sexual orientation is irrelevant to military service, and the DADT policy had a more deleterious effect on troops, readiness, service with distinction, and ideals such as duty, honor, and courage.

I have enjoyed the personal-level DADT stories flooding the web today, and have been moved to tears more than one.  In particular is this case of the previously-headless 21-year-old soldier on active duty in the desert who put out his own personal call for help on YouTube to support him in his coming out process.  Millions of views and supportive comments later, he called his dad today—a call to a tiny conservative town in Alabama from a base in Germany—to tell him that he is gay.  And he posted the live call to YouTube, face and all.  Honor and Courage defined:



Also of note on this day of DADT repeal, applause and salutes to my friend Zack near Nashville, who called me for advice last week on whether to come out or not at a military gala/ceremony at which he was being singled out and honored with an an award for service. The need to come out has been growing for a long time, and some on base know, and the timing seemed right even though it was before the official end of DADT. The pressure was nearly crushing him by that point, and if he were to be on stage as the center of attention and the model of service, he wanted to do so openly.


Again, honor and courage. I stand and salute.

I am also struck at how young these guys are. AreYouSurprised is only 21 years old. Zack is not much older. What a difference a generation makes.

Update: The coming out video by Airman Randy Phillips (AreYouSurprised) went viral mad quick, with nearly 2.5 million views (and YouTube does not count views from embedded players on other sites, like this one). He's also been interviewed by ABC news (I think it's safe to say everyone in his hometown knows he's gay now. I hope he had tome to call his mom too). This should be another Google ad—the Internet is what you make of it.