Cory Huston and Avarice Guerrero, the
military couple who became engaged last week, have said their
engagement sends a message to gay troops.
The proposal is believed to be the
first to take place on a military base between two members of the
same sex.
Huston, who in 2006 was drummed out of
the Navy for violating “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” greeted his
Marine boyfriend at Camp Pendleton as he returned home from a
10-month deployment in Afghanistan with a hug and a marriage
proposal.
Appearing on CNN,
Guerrero said he thought Huston was breaking up with him because he
first asked him to take off his promise ring.
“Once he got down on one knee, I
literally started thinking, like, 'Is he serious? Is he really going
to ask me to marry him after everything we've been through?'”
Huston said the proposal sends a
positive message to young gay troops.
“It's important to us 'cause we got
engaged. But it's also important because there's young gay people
coming out of boot camp who, even though it's okay to be gay in the
military there's still a stigma and I want them to be like, 'Ok, well
other people have done it, so I don't have to be ashamed of who I
am.' I spent too many years being ashamed of who I was and trying to
be someone I wasn't. In a way we are trying to send a message saying
that it's okay.”
The couple added that they are in no
rush to marry.