History made for an officer and a gentleman

Sergeant Brandon Morgan didn’t expect to become a global phenomenon when he kissed his partner upon returning to the US from a six-month deployment to Afghanistan.

But then a friend posted a photo of their embrace on the Gay Marines’ page on Facebook. Morgan, in desert camouflage, is seen wrapping his legs around Dalan Wells’ legs. A large American flag, draped floor to ceiling inside an aircraft hangar at a Marine base in Hawaii, is in the background.

Photos of exuberant servicemen and homecomings aren’t new. But this one, taken five months after the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask don’t tell” policy prohibiting gay servicemen from openly acknowledging their sexuality, is among the first showing a gay active-duty serviceman in uniform kissing his partner at a homecoming.