Marine Sargent Brandon Morgan on
Wednesday advised struggling gay teens to be true to themselves.
A homecoming kiss photo between Morgan
and his partner Dalan Wells received thousands of comments and likes
after it was posted on the Gay
Marines Facebook page. Most commenters left notes of
encouragement thanking Morgan for his dedicated service.
During an appearance on MSNBC, anchor
Thomas Roberts asked, “For kids around this country that may be
struggling with their own sexual identities – afraid, ashamed,
maybe even being bullied as we speak – what's your message to
them?”
“My message to them would be to not
be afraid to be yourself,” Morgan answered.
“I went through my whole life
wondering who I was. And it only took the recent mistakes I made in
my life to finally figure out that who I was is who I really am. You
should never be afraid to be yourself. If you are afraid and you're
not true to yourself and not who you're supposed to be, then you end
up hurting yourself and others, and it's just a downward spiral.”
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Instead of national media attention and
a shrug from commanders, Morgan would have been facing an almost
certain discharge from the military under “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,”
the policy which ended last September that barred gay and bisexual
troops from serving openly.