Following the repeal of DADT the highest ranking officer to come out as LGBT was Major General Trish Rose, USAF, (ret). Her words are most relevant today.  

“These are tough times, for our community, and our nation. But as I said before, ‘you can be pitiful, or you can be powerful…but you can’t be both.’ We must all educate, inform, and inspire, so that folks are not misled by leaders who want to divide us as a nation. We must attack and dispel prejudice wherever and whenever we can. And as I have shared before, when it comes to prejudice, there are two types of people who live in that darkness – those who are desperate to emerge and those who are desperate to stay. We must shine our light for that first type, and stop worrying about what the other type thinks of us. We must all be our authentic selves and give others the courage to do the same.”