The Marine Band San Diego will commemorate a special occasion during this year’s parade. With the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in 2011, San Diego’s LGBT service members were finally able to march in uniform the following summer. This year marks a decade since that monumental decision in LGBT+ rights in the U.S.

Before, the policy threatened LGBT+ service members with being discharged if they were public about their identity. This led to many forms of discrimination. For example, heterosexual couples could say good bye and welcome their service member home from deployment on military bases. People in queer relationships often had to leave and return to the country alone, needing to rendezvous with their partners outside of the base later. In many ways, this made the military a toxic environment for LGBT+ people despite the long history of LGBT+ joining the military to avoid heteropatriarchal expectations of marriage and finding same-sex partners there — even while LGBT+ people barred from serving.

This discrimination was felt acutely in San Diego where there is a huge military population and a long history of LGBT+ people living here. Those in both categories suffered as they had to keep their sexual and gender identities a secret.

The Marine Band became the first-ever active-duty military band to perform at a Pride event in the continental U.S. in July, 2012. With the return of an in-person parade this year, the Marine Band San Diego will mark that anniversary by performing during the parade once again.