Los Angeles Times - The Kiss "Heard Around the World"

Sadly, the Hampton Roads area rarely sees much positive publicity when it comes to LGBT issues. Typically, coverage centers on the latest hate and insanity being spouted by Pat Robertson or the overall hostile legal climate LGBT citizens face in a state where some Republicans have proudly boasted that they'd like to drive all gays from the state. Thus, it's been amazing to see the coverage surrounding the same sex kiss that I reported on earlier in the week between to Navy Petty officers when one returned from deployment with her ship, the dock landing ship Oak Hill. Equally surprising has been the fact that most of the comments on the Virginian Pilot article on the women were positive. True, there were some knuckle dragging Neanderthal Christianist comments, but they were the distinct minority. The Los Angeles Times has an editorial on this loving event which hopefully will become commonplace in the military. It also looks at the huge amount of work to be done to rid the ranks of discrimination based on race, religion and sexual orientation. Unfortunately, many still prefer to stoke the fires of division rather than strive toward untiy. Most of these individuals are Republicans and wrap themselves in the mantle of Christianity. Here are highlights from the editorial:

Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta greeted her girlfriend, Citlalic Snell, on the pier with a kiss and embrace, making them the first same-sex couple to be chosen by the Navy for this very public moment. The crowd cheered. It was a small but significant sign of progress in the U.S. military.

Yet, on the same day, military officials announced that the Army had charged eight soldiers in connection with the death of a young Chinese-American private who was allegedly taunted with ethnic slurs and so brutally hazed by men in his unit in Afghanistan that he shot himself in October. According to his family, Danny Chen, who was 19, wrote in letters that he was teased for being Asian and subjected to frequent jokes about Chinese people.

In some ways, the military has made exemplary progress in modernizing its culture. Long desegregated along racial, ethnic and gender lines, the armed forces now allow gay soldiers to serve openly as well. . . . . But the military, like other institutions, has continued to struggle along the way with racism, sexism, sexual assaults and homophobia. The repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy is less than a year old; Gaeta and her girlfriend — who is also a sailor — could not have kissed so publicly at a homecoming a year ago. (Gaeta won the "first kiss" spot in a raffle among the crew.)

Racism within the ranks is still an issue. The military's zero tolerance policy is a start, but it takes strong leadership to educate and sensitize young and often unworldly soldiers about the level of respect that all their fellow soldiers are due.

The Army was right to move quickly in investigating and bringing charges in the Chen case; with hard work and leadership, we hope diversity in the military can become a non-issue in the years ahead. After the two women kissed on the Virginia pier, the rest of the crew filed off the ship and immediately turned to the bigger issue at hand — reuniting with their family and friends.