MLoyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, andPersonal Courage define members of our Armed Services,traits we should all strive to posses. Many people have them,displaying part of, or all in their daily life, striving to live them. How many of us live these traits daily? As a whole, as partof our personal ethics? Now add the factor of being honest about who you are, whoyou love and what you need to feel complete as a person, andnot just a service member. That is the situation that currently faces the LGBT membersof the United States Armed Services. How can they serve their country, follow a dream of patriot-ism and service to their fellow man, and still tell the wholetruth, being honest about something deeply personal, andshare who it is they love? LGBT people have come a long way in the US. We havebegun to gain equal rights on a state by state basis. However,that has not been the case on the national level. With "Don'tAsk, Don't Tell" still the law of the land, there is still more todo. 2010 saw the passage of the first stand alone bill impactingLGBT Americans in history. Even after President Obamasigned the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 into law onDecember 22, 2010, hundreds and thousands of active duty,reserve, and National Guard service members are still waitingfor the military and the Defense Department to certify that theServices are ready to implement repeal. When this happensand the statutorily mandated 60 day waiting period passes,DADT will be history and finally all patriotic Americans will beable to be honest, open and serve their country with honorand dignity. On a cautionary note, while the President has signed therepeal of DADT, it will not go into effect until he receives cer-tification from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff andSecretary of Defense and 60 days passes after he certifies thatthe military is ready to implement this change in personnelpolicy. Opponents of repeal, including a number of leadingRepublican Presidential candidates and conservative,Teapublican members or the House Armed Service Committeehave vowed to repeal, the repeal of the DADT law. We mustbe ever vigilant. This is not a done deal.Although as a leader in so many ways, the Unites States isthe last remaining superpower, and a leader of the free world,we are far behind many of our allies on this issue. There are24 countires that have, for many years and even decades,allowed serivce members to be open about who they are, andstill serve honorably.These nations, include some of our clos-est allies serving with us in Iraq and Afghanistan, the British,Canadians and Australians. Their transition to open and hon-est service has been discribed as a "non-event." So it will bewhen the United States finally does away with this vestage ofdiscrimination against its own patriots.It is with deep respect for all that they have done, and willcontinue to do for our country and community, thatChristopher Street West selects the many active duty, reserveand National Guard service members who still serve insilence, as well as those veterans who suffered under the ear-lier ban and DADT, as Community Grand Marshal of thisyear's PRIDE Parade. Because those currently serving stillcannot come out, you will see that in the military tradition ofthe riderless horse, the Grand Marshal vehicle will be empty. Writer Tom Carpenter is a former Marine Captain, andcurrent board member of the Servicemembers LegalDefense Network and Forum on the Military Chaplaincy.COMMUNITY GRAND MARSHALLGBT Servicemembers: The Riderless HorseBY TOM CARPENTERUse of this image is provided with great appreciation from the artist, Jeff Sheng, and Kaycee Olsen of Kaycee Olsen Gallery.33