Heartwarming: WWII vet, 100, celebrates his gay marriage to Viet Nam vet, 72

Alessandra Kelley

Alessandra Kelley

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https://www.npr.org/2018/02/09/5839...-you-came-to-see-the-bride-you-re-out-of-luck

When John Banvard, 100, met Gerard "Jerry" Nadeau, 72, in 1993, neither of them had been openly gay.

"When we met, we were sort of in the closet, and I'd never had a real relationship. Now, we've been together almost 25 years," Jerry tells John during a StoryCorps interview.

... when they moved into the veterans home together in Chula Vista, Calif., in 2010, Jerry says people there wondered what their relationship was.

"Well, when we got married, they knew what our relationship was," Jerry says, laughing.

The couple married in 2013, and John says he was surprised by the warm reception they received. "I was expecting we'd be ridiculed, and there was very little of that," he says.
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Beautiful, and I'm relieved "I was expecting we'd be ridiculed, and there was very little of that."
 

Criccieth

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That's heart-warming - though there's a touch of pathos in the fact that the 100-year-old gentleman had, when they met, never had a relationship before despite being over 75 at the time - presumably because of the need to be in the closet.

But they look very happy, and he looks like a pretty hale-and-hearty 100 year old!
:LilLove:
 
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