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SASHA ASLANIAN: 23-year-old William Gordon was a member of the Minnesota National Guard while a student at Macalester College in Saint Paul. Gordon grew up in Nashville as the son of a preacher. He came out to his parents when he was in his late teens. In the Guard, he didn't think his sexual orientation would be an issue.

WILLIAM GORDON: I was the type of person that didn't throw my sexuality in people's faces or was very out about it, and that's part of my upbringing. But I was also the type of person that, if you were respectful enough to ask, then I had no problem telling.

SASHA ASLANIAN: In January of 2009, Gordon was deployed with the Red Bulls to Iraq. In the intensity of the combat zone, he decided to risk telling his fellow soldiers he was gay.

WILLIAM GORDON: More than anything, the response that I got was, OK, I don't care or something along those lines. I was very happy about that.

SASHA ASLANIAN: Gordon didn't come out to his higher-ups, and he didn't want his phone calls and emails to reveal his relationship with his then fiance.

WILLIAM GORDON: I probably talked to him maybe once a week on phone calls, and our emails were very cryptic. So it was very stressful, very anxiety producing, and very strain on our relationship.

SASHA ASLANIAN: Gordon says the engagement broke off, and he was later medically evacuated from Iraq. Back home, Gordon struggled with what he felt was a lack of care from the Guard. In December 2009, he decided to write a letter to his superiors.

WILLIAM GORDON: To whom it may concern-- I, Private First Class William Brandon Gordon, am hereby declaring my self-identification as a member of the LGBTQ community.

SASHA ASLANIAN: Gordon thanked the military for the opportunity to serve his country but said he could no longer fight for freedom while not being allowed the freedom to be himself. He says his superior officers offered him the chance to recant. He refused, and the disciplinary investigation was launched. He was eventually informed he would be brought up on charges of going AWOL for missing drills.

Even with the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Gordon feels the door has closed on his military service. He's moved on to teaching and coaching. As for what the repeal means for other Guard troops, Guard spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Olson says the guard has no cases pending against Guard members for what it terms homosexual conduct. Since the policy's inception in 1993, Olson says the Guard has discharged two people. As of today, they are eligible to re-enlist.

The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell doesn't bring full equality for gays and lesbians. For example, their partners or spouses don't receive survivor benefits, and that bothers Mankato native Jacob Reitan. In 2006, Reitan coordinated a national protest called Right to Serve. He tried to enlist as an openly gay man at the Minnesota National Guard. When he was refused, he began a sit-in at the Roseville recruiting office and was arrested and charged with trespassing.

JACOB REITAN: In 2006 when I tried to sign up, I meant it. I would have gone had they taken me.

SASHA ASLANIAN: Instead, Reitan went to divinity school at Harvard and is now a UofM law student. At age 30, he says he's no longer thinking about enlisting, but he did attend President Obama's signing of the bill that repealed Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

JACOB REITAN: What a lot of people don't know is this is really only the second time that there's ever been a federal law that has sought to protect gay and lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people in America. So this is really a landmark historic occasion.

SASHA ASLANIAN: One Vietnam-era veteran celebrating the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell is Ken Scholes of Minneapolis. Scholes served in the Navy from 1968 to 1972. He was discharged in 1972 for being gay.

KEN SCHOLES: I did think we'd eventually succeed. My biggest worry is that we'd succeed but I wouldn't be around to enjoy it. It would happen after I died. But fortunately, I'm young enough to live and enjoy this great-- I think it's a great-- I'm just overjoyed that this is happening.

SASHA ASLANIAN: Schultz is flying to Washington, DC, today to celebrate the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which happens to come on his second birthday. Sasha Aslanian, Minnesota Public Radio News.