"The Marines definitely gave me the confidence to come out, which I know is ironic."
"That allyship is what I wish every little gay kid had,"
"I hated and loved them and I cared about them,"
A young gay recruit enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps with a friend; the friend sought service while the recruit joined for direction. Boot camp at Parris Island proved physically grueling and mentally fraught with homophobic slurs and the constant fear of being discovered. The recruit concealed his sexual identity, leaned on his friend, and found allyship within his squad. He experienced conflicted feelings toward squad members yet grew to care for them. Before graduation he earned promotion to private first class and later achieved the rank of sergeant. Those experiences were adapted loosely into the Netflix dramedy Boots, which shifts the setting to 1990 and carries a hopeful ending into the series.
Read at Bustle
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