For the first time in history, an openly gay male officer has achieved the rank of Major General in the United States Army.

The honor was bestowed upon Brigadier General Randy Taylor. In an email Sunday evening, Danny Ingram, National President Emeritus for American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER) released the following statement:

“To all members of American Veterans for Equal Rights, our many sister organizations, and all the individuals who helped overturn Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and its preceding discriminatory policies, this is what victory looks like. Congratulations to Major General Taylor and your husband Lucas,” writes Ingram.

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Taylor serves as Director of Architecture, Operations, Networks and Space for the U.S. Army Chief Information Officer/G6. He was the welcoming speaker for the Department of Defense’s 2015 LGBT Pride Month ceremony.

At the ceremony, Taylor introduced his husband Lucas, saying “We have been a family for the last 18 years, long before the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. And although Lucas has never served in the military, he has accompanied me on all 11 reassignment moves in 18 years, both here in the U.S. and overseas."

"For us to be a family at that time, Lucas had to set aside any serious career ambitions," Taylor continued. "We bet everything on my Army career. We also spent a lot of time and energy living an inauthentic public life. Gay service members were being discharged at record numbers then and I wanted to defend our nation and Lucas wanted to make sure I could --- always faithful, always out of love for each other and country. We always believed it would get better and it has.”

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Taylor has actively served in the Army for 28 years. He now joins U.S. Army Major General Tammy Smith and wife Tracey Hepner and U.S. Air Force Major General Patricia Rose and wife Lt. Julie Roth U.S. Navy (Ret.) as the first out LGBT general officers.