Gay military wedding
Military academy hosts first wedding of active-duty gay couple
Two Apache helicopter pilots are believed to be the first same-sex, active-duty military couple to get married at West Point military academy.
Capt. Daniel Hall, 30, and Capt. Vincent Franchino, 26, were married in the chapel at the New York academy on Jan. 13, the New York Times reports. The couple first met in while &#;Don&#;t Ask, Don&#;t Tell&#; was in effect.
“We couldn’t tell the fact for fear of what would happen to us,” Franchino told the Times. “So we put it in our minds that we were never going to say we were gay.”
“It’s really frustrating when two people have feelings for each other but are not allowed to act on them,” Hall added. “We were serving under a policy that was telling all of us — perfectly capable soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines — to lie down about ourselves.”
However, friends could see that something was there between Franchino and Hall when they first met. At the day, Franchino was a freshman and hall was a senior.
“You could tell that there was this rapport, this unspoken communication between them,” said Capt. Owen Waits, a close companion of both men, adding, &#;You knew
September 20, marked the terminate of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the policy that barred gays and lesbians from serving openly in the armed services. After an exhaustive Senate battle, a thorough report from the Department of Defense's Comprehensive Review Working Organization, a filibuster, and a few (defunct) predictions that our brave men and women would desert their posts knowing a gay was fighting on the line next to them, gays and lesbians could be out and confident in uniform without the worry of retaliation.
A few months before that, the New York Mention Legislature and Governor Cuomo passed the Marriage Equality Act allowing same-sex couples to marry in Unused York state. Maryland and Washington soon followed.
While the move toward nationwide equality is grand, it left many gays in military relationships in a workable matrimonial conundrum: What to wear to the wedding?
Engaged gay couples in which one of the two is a serviceman have no set typical to build upon, disappearing them to make up tradition and guidelines for dress as they proceed along. Regardless of the misconception that all queer men posses a genetic sense for fashion and instinctively know how to tie a double Windsor, many
Military Couple Brings Both Families Together for Beautiful Wedding
Jonathan Franqui & Dwayne D. Beebe • Nashville, TN
This story was originally published in March
This weekend, on Saturday, March 30, Jonathan Franqui and Navy Senior Chief Dwayne D. Beebe hosted their wedding ceremony among all of their loved ones at Elderly Christ Church in Pensacola, Florida. The couple met in , had an instant connection, and own had a whirlwind passion ever since. They've fallen in love, been standard into each other's family circles, and got engaged during the San Diego LGBT Pride Parade, the first Pride parade where gay and lesbian service members were authorized to wear their uniforms. Read our previous story on Jonathan & Dwayne HERE.
The wedding ceremony was a genuine testament to Jonathan and Dwayne's life together. It nodded to key moments in their relationship - their first date, their marriage proposal - and included their friends, family members, and colleagues. It represented the next step in their life together.
Here, they shared 20 photos with us of their big day and explained why marriage matters to them. (Photos by Red Stone
Courtesy of Jeff Sheng Two men became the first same-sex couple to marry on a military base when they held their wedding ceremony last month at Joint Ground McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. Tech Sgt. Erwynn Umali and his partner, Will Behrens, married June 23 on the base where Umali, an active member of the Air Power, had been stationed. It was a decision that would have been unthinkable just nine months ago, before the law requiring them to keep their relationship a secret was repealed. "We asked [about holding the ceremony on the base], and they were very open about it, but [said], 'No one has ever asked us this question before,'" Umali said in a Facebook chat hosted by Slate. "We did not get any push endorse from the base or leadership. All they asked was that we be patient because this was the very first one." Both men say this positive reaction is the same sort of response they have gotten since going public with their relationship to Umali's peers in the military. After Don't Ask, Don't Declare was repealed last September, Umali decided to unseal up about his partnership with Behrens. At a farewell luncheon hosted for him
.First Military Base Same-Sex Wedding Held