Sailor's homecoming kiss from his husband sparks outrage

All Kenneth Woodington wanted to do December 21 was welcome his husband, sailor Bryan Woodington, home from a seven-month long deployment on board the USS The Sullivans, a guided missile cruiser. The ship had been deployed to the Middle East with 300 sailors aboard.

Kenneth wanted to make Bryan’s homecoming special, so he entered a lottery to determine which sailor will disembark first and get welcomed home by his spouse.

“Kenneth Woodington won,” according to News4JAX in Jacksonville, Fla., ”and when his husband, sailor Bryan Woodington walked off the gangway, they locked lips for the first time in seven months.

"’I was excited and I could not wait for it to happen,’ Bryan said. ‘I knew I was going to dip him.’

"’When he got off the ship, I lost all control, I just dropped everything and I just ran,’ Kenneth said.”

The couple got cheers at the base from shipmates and their family members waiting to welcome their servicemen home to Jacksonville. The TV station aired their kiss.

And then the jeers started. The TV station was bombarded with phone calls and emails objecting to the decision to show the kiss.

The station shared some of the remarks:

“How sad that your station has dropped to such a low as to show a gay couple kissing on your newscast.”

I’ll never watch your news again!!!! So long, News4Jax."

“I thought this was a ‘family friendly’ news channel.”

Kenneth and Bryan remained unfazed . "It didn’t really bother me," Kenneth said. "Honestly, I’m the type of person who doesn’t really care that much about what people say."

“The newlyweds said they’ve received more positive feedback than negative and the Navy has been nothing but kind and accepting. Both said this can be a teaching moment, that it’s 2018 and they feel that love is," the station reported.

"I wanted to give him nothing but love and care and understanding right out the gate, so I think we just fell for each other really hard and we both knew what we really wanted," said Kenneth.

Bill Austin, spokesman for Naval Station Mayport, (located in Jacksonville) said a same-sex first kiss has happened before and it is not an issue for the Navy.

Copyright The Gayly – December 31, 2018 @ 2:15 p.m. CST.