Photos by Andrew Propp

Photography by Alana Kansaku-Sarmiento

Photography by Alana Kansaku-Sarmiento

The Veterans Day Parade through Portland, ME began at Longfellow Square. Approximately eight blocks of scattered candy and wind-blown leaflets later, the event culminated outside of City Hall where leaders of town and state offered speeches to the crowd. Some citizens brought sweater-clad pets, others brought protest signs, but Congress Street was lined for blocks with people in some way commemorating the holiday.

On December 1, the US Defense Department released a study on the effects of repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell." Doug Anderson looks back on an afternoon when a park in Portland became center stage for this national debate.

Vox pop by Doug Anderson