In 'Boots,' a gay Marine comes of age before the era of 'Don't ask, don't tell'

As a closeted gay teen growing up in Glendale, Arizona, in the 1990s, Andy Parker once invited a Marine Corps recruiter to his house to convince his conservative, evangelical parents to let him join the military. “Looking back now, I can see that that was definitely me trying to find a way to prove something, to run away from something, to test my masculinity or prove it somehow,” Parker told NBC News. While he ultimately decided against enlisting, the television writer and pr