I wanted to applaud the Los Angeles Times for using the below photograph I took as part of their weekend online coverage of my recent exhibition opening. A lot of credit goes to journalist David Ng, who spent almost a year covering this series, following me on four different photo shoots, and extensively interviewing the service members in my photographs. It was interesting for me to note however, that the image the LA Times chose to use in the print edition was not the one of the couple "Tristan and Zeke", but of the female Marine "Ellis."

(more images and commentary after the jump)

(More information and pictures after the jump)

The only items that Sara had for our photo shoot were a few parts of her former uniform that she had secretly saved and not returned back a few weeks ago when she was dropped from her military classes and asked to return all her military gear. While taking her picture, I was incredibly moved in seeing the angst and sadness in her as she looked at the last remnants of what could have been an incredibly promising future serving our country.

More after the jump - including another picture and an e-mail from Sara.

For the last few days, I have been at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, primarily to tend to my exhibitions of Fearless (my photography series of "out" LGBT high school and collegiate athletes), here at PRIDE House Vancouver and Whistler, but I wanted to share my thoughts and a behind the scenes look at the historic PRIDE House venues, one of which will be part of a segment in the Colbert Report this week, and to also speak a bit about the incredible significance of these venues being included in the Winter Olympics, a first for our community where a dedicated LGBT space is part of the official Olympic pavilion list and recognized by the host Olympic Organizing Committee.

We received these photographs from Lt. Choi to publish and share with our readers from his training this past weekend, and he does express his deep apologies to the conference participants at Creating Change that he was not able to attend.

That being said, I am incredibly pleased and happy to announce the pre-sales and release of my first publication, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Volume 1.

Stay tuned to Bilerico for more details about all of this, including a contest to win a free copy.

In the meantime, I wanted to finally release to the public the last image in Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Volume 1: "Glynn and Celine, Fort Worth, Texas, 2009." It's after the jump with more info about the book.

Those of you who are familiar with my work, know that I am an artist and activist, where I specifically use photography to create a dialogue with the straight world about LGBTQ issues. My major project for the last 6 years has been "Fearless," which deals with homophobia in sports, particularly in our high schools and colleges.

About two years ago, I decided that my follow up photography project to "Fearless" was going to be something that dealt with the military policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."