Great, I have to go to a meeting and I definitely look like I've been crying and I can't admit it was cause I was watching YouTube. People will speculate....

:)

I also teared up at the story of the Navy Lt. marrying his partner early this morning in Vermont.

Definitely cried. That was awesome.

So awesome! I couldn't hear a lot of what the dad said, but it was obvious he was fine with it. Who was the woman who came on late in the conversation?

Add me to the criers.

It only took one day for the branches to start to get competitive- WE TAKE GAYS NOW? WE'RE GONNA BE THE BEST AT WELCOMING THEM! OO-RAH!

Who was the woman who came on late in the conversation?

I gathered a stepmom or new/recent girlfriend.

ha! That's pretty funny, TPS.

I am about 3/4 of the way through Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin Series (one of the great works of fiction of the latter 20th century IMO) and it is striking that there are several instances of gay men serving in the King's Navy, in the long term, and being more or less tolerated because they are valuable parts of the organization.

I am assuming that this was based on history, as is the rest of the material. Not that I would have wanted to chance it. . .you could be just as easily flogged as tolerated, in that world.

David Drake also writes science fiction based upon factual historical works. He also often has gay characters in his work. In fact Johann Vierziger is a main character in the Hammer's Slammers book who happens to be gay.