Reflecting on the Ceremony

"After the two failed votes in the
Senate, I was starting to have my doubts. But we got there. I’m
ecstatic. It’s absolutely amazing. A huge day for America. And now’s the
time where we need role models in the military now — gays and lesbians,
officers and enlisted alike. A year from now, hopefully this repeal will
be fully implemented. And open service will be a nonissue. We will
look back and wonder what all the fuss was about. It will be a big, fat
nonevent." —Maj. Mike Almy, who was discharged under “don’t ask, don’t
tell” in 2006