Gay male couple make history with first ever Navy homecoming kiss
A gay couple has made history after being chosen as the ceremonial kiss as shipmates disembarked from a Navy submarine.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Thomas Sawicki was greeted by his boyfriend Shawn Brier at the Naval Base Point Loma.
It was the first time a male same-sex couple was chosen for the ceremonial honour, which is decided by a lottery. A female couple became the first same-sex couple to perform the homecoming kiss in 2011.
Sawicki had been at sea on the USS San Francisco submarine for seven months before returning home and disembarking with shipmates.
Despite being the first of its kind, the kiss was like any other for the couple, despite Brier saying he was “very nervous”.
“It was a long seven months so it was tough,’ Brier said. ‘But we were able to keep in touch so that helped.”
