Over the weekend, David Bucher and Bruce Moats were married. The historic twist on this story is that this is the first wedding for a same-sex couple at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
NBC News shares a touching profile:
The wedding was not widely publicized, and it wasn’t surprising to Naval Academy spokesman Cmdr. John Schofield to see no Academy opposition to the ceremony.
“The Naval Academy is all about creating leaders for the future and embodying and promoting a culture of dignity and respect,” Schofield said. “And I think that it’s in line with those values, those tenets that we hold dear, that we have our first same-sex marriage here.”
He said the Academy was proud to hold the wedding — in line with Maryland law. Same-sex marriage went into effect in 2013.
As groundbreaking as the wedding was for the Academy, it stuck to tradition with formal prayers, a reading from Corinthians and the United States Navy Hymn.
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“As a gay man in the military, the military didn’t want me,” Bucher said. “There was some aspect of my personal being that made me less qualified, they thought, so that was why I exited the Navy. There was a certain level of rejection there.”
But on Saturday, returning to the place where Bucher began his career — and sensing an extraordinary effort to welcome him and his partner — there was also a feeling of victory.
He’s working at the Pentagon, has a family and is married to the love of his life.