On the day the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell finally happened, young airman Randy Phillips came out to his father via telephone broadcasting a webcam of the event on YouTube.
The airman who is stationed at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany telephoned his father in Alabama to tell him he was gay.
In the clip Phillips first asked his father whether he could tell him something. His father replied yes and then his son asked him, “You promise you’ll always love me? Period?” His father said yes and the airman simply said, “Dad, I’m gay.” When his father replied “gay?” the airman said, “I always have been, and I’ve known since whenever.”
In a moving exchange the father told his son without hesitation, “I will always love you, son, no matter what.” He continued, “It doesn’t change our relationship – and I always will, no matter what, all right? You are my son, and I am very proud of you.”
