The repeal of the U.S. military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy went into effect on September 20, 2011. In Nashville, we marked the occasion at Canvas, a bar that has since moved to another side of town.   Here's an image of the display at the entrance that greeted those celebrating. 

That simple picture confronts us with memories of what's gone. The TEP logo has changed and The City Paper, which was a free print news publication, also no longer exists.  Maybe some of our optimism from that era is gone, too.

But in those days, it was a time of great hope when real policy change was voted on by Congress and supported by the President. A few years before in 2009, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act became law. Anything seemed possible. It still is, but we're living through a period of horrible reaction. And, of course, we didn't deal with everything in those big wins from years ago. The executive branch and the courts are still going back and forth about whether existing trans service members can be run out of the military and receive the health care they need and whether the Department of Defense/War can block new trans recruits.

And culturally there are still tensions over the limited victory that the original Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal achieved as evidenced by the cancellation of Boots last year.

To use a military image, we're still fighting on multiple fronts.