A San Diego LGBT community pioneer, some of Al’s accomplishments are as follows: Founding member of the Metropolitan Community Church of San Diego in 1970 serving as board member and vice moderator ever since. District Court in San Diego, he entered private practice as an attorney for the next 42 years. Al recognized that as a gay man in the 1960s with a passion for community activism, he could not pursue that goal and remain in the Navy thus, he resigned his commission in 1967. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.
He attended the Naval Justice School in 19 and thereafter served as a legal officer in multiple assignments and deployments. Please e-mail suggestions for future Vows columns with as much advance notice as possible to fax them to 30 or mail them to Vows, The Denver Post, 1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202.Al Smithson served as an officer in the US Navy from 1960 to 1967. Timing is something that both Matthew and I have on our side.” “I am keeping my fingers crossed they allow us to be stationed together,” Adams adds.
McKinnis planned to take the marriage license to his superiors for processing, along with a request for transfer. “Although we could be thrilled if our families could attend,” Adams says, “military life doesn’t always allow that to happen.” There were no guests, no hoopla – just Adams, chilled to the point of goose bumps, and McKinnis. Al Balin performed the ceremony on a sunny Tuesday afternoon. Via daily phone calls, near-constant e-mail correspondence and online shopping, McKinnis planned an intimate wedding, including getting a dress for his new bride, who could fly in for only a week.Īfter braving a 12-hour flight from Japan, wrangling up a flight to Denver and braving a six-hour drive from Denver International Airport to Colorado Springs, when a spring snowstorm snarled road and air traffic, Adams made her way to McKinnis and their wedding at a cabin at Farish Recreation Area – a remote military resort near Woodland Park. “So, if he wanted to get married, then the ball was in his court.” Granted, he is quick on his feet,” Adams teases. “It’s hilarious to say, but I told him that I loved him with all my heart, but I was ‘too old’ to be chasing him. “I said, ‘It could be OK living with you.”‘ Marry: “We were talking and laughing,” McKinnis recalls. safely in September but got transferred to Japan in January, so she came through Colorado before going overseas. Then, Adams too went to Iraq in May 2004. “We picked up like old times, like when we first met, like nothing had changed, and no time had passed.” In April 2004, Adams called from her post in Las Vegas and asked, “Are you going to come visit me?” “I would e-mail her before I’d go,” he says.Ī knee injury suffered in Iraq sent McKinnis to a job at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. His unit also staged in Jordan and was first into Iraq when the war started. When McKinnis took a three-year stint in special operations, it meant heading into Afghanistan days after the Sept. With similar upbringings, a competitive spirit and passion for sports, the exact same jobs and rank, they had much in common, and much to talk about and learn from each other. McKinnis and Adams stayed in touch as they moved from post to post, always alerting the other to a new assignment – California, Florida, Alaska, Nevada, North Dakota, Korea, Japan, and even Afghanistan and Iraq.
Match: Both married and divorced in the intervening years.
With that in mind, we ended up being very close friends.” “But during this time, both of us were in relationships,” she says.”The way we were raised: It is just not right to cheat on your boyfriend or girlfriend. “It was like being back home in North Carolina,” Adams recalls, adding that those visits with his family and friends laid the groundwork for the future. My parents live 45 minutes to an hour away, depending on how you drive. You don’t know anyone, so you’re looking to make friends. “We got there at the same time,” McKinnis says. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close MenuĮach joined the Air Force right out of high school and began technical training at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi six months later.