When freedom arrives

The video above has become an Internet sensation, and rightly so: It’s beautiful. It was made by Randy Phillips, a 21-year-old airman in the US Air Force, who filmed himself coming out to his dad. I could feel his tension, and could practically hear his heart pounding.

It’s been posted to numerous blogs, featured on the front page of Yahoo! News, and also reported by ABC News (clip below) among others. The second clip provides some context for the first video.

This, combined with the dozens of stories of gay service people coming out since the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), shows what it looks like when true freedom arrives. It took far too long, but it’s here.

Some Republicans have pledged to reinstate the policy, as demanded by the counterfeit “Christians” of the anti-gay industry, representing the base of the Republican Party. With super majorities of Americans in support of the repeal of DADT, I can’t see how Republican politicians will do anything more than mouth-off without doing anything concrete.

Still, as a Republican politician was fond of saying, “the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” Too true.