Obama Promotes First Navy Gay Kiss

??President Barack Obama has promoted a story of the historic first gay kiss since repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell.”

A picture and a link to the story was posted on Obama's re-election blog (barackobama.tumblr.com) along with the caption: “President Obama signed the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' into law one year ago today.”

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta of Placerville, California told the Virginia Pilot that she purchased 50 $1 tickets for the “first” raffle to win the privilege of being the first to exit the returning USS Oak Hill as it docked in Virginia Beach after 80 days at sea.

Gaeta and her partner, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell of Los Angeles, shared the coveted “first kiss” on the pier as a crowd screamed and waved flags around them.

“I think that it's significant,” Snell told the paper in a videotaped interview. “This is the first time where we can actually show who we are. You know, being in the military where it was not allowed. We can show it. We can be public about it. We don't have to hide our relationship. And I think that it's something that is going to open a lot of doors, not just our relationship but all the other gay and lesbian relationships that are in the military.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page. Visit our video library for more videos.)

On December 22, 2010, Obama signed the bill that started the process of ending the policy that for 18 years banned gay and bisexual troops from serving openly.

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