[tweetmeme]In a time when we struggle to find equality in diversity – it’s stories like this that give me hope.  Los Angeles singer-songwriter Shannon Curtis wrote this lovely song to celebrate the engagement of two female veterans who served in Iraq.  What I really like about it is the little drum beat in the introduction that actually reminds me of the military and ties in with the controversy over “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Give her a listen:

01 Brightest Light In The Room by shannoncurtis

Here’s some more information about the song from the press release:

SONG TURNS “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL” INTO “I DO” 

Retired US Army Servicewoman Proposes Marriage to Army Vet Girlfriend
of 10 Years with Song Composed for Occasion by Artist Shannon Curtis;
Couple Says Curtis’s Music Helped Them During Deployments in Iraq

In the midst of heated national debates about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
and the Defense Of Marriage Act, songwriter Shannon Curtis has found a
way to celebrate the universality of love while showing her support
for the gay and lesbian community with her latest single, “Brightest
Light in the Room.” The song was written for two retired US Army
servicewomen on the occasion of their wedding engagement. The couple
of 10 years first discovered Curtis’s music on Pandora Internet Radio
during their separate deployments to Iraq, where they say it helped
them to find calm in the midst of war.

“I received an email last summer from a fan in Saint Louis asking if
I’d consider writing a song for her marriage proposal to her
girlfriend,” says Curtis. “My immediate response was, ‘Absolutely!’”
Several more emails helped Curtis fill in the details of the couple’s
story — including that one of the women is currently battling cancer.

“The thing by which I was most struck was that even though these
women have faced some seriously difficult stuff — war, cancer, a law
requiring them to hide their relationship while serving their country,
and living in a state that does not recognize marriages like theirs –
they have so much joy for life and love for each other,” says Curtis.
The couple were engaged in October of 2010, to the tune of the song
written for them.

Curtis says she is blessed to have been a part of their story, and
she hopes that “Brightest Light in the Room” will remind listeners
that in dark times, there is love to light the way. “Love is
universal. This song was written for these two women, but it could be
about anybody. I think if more people were able to see their own
stories in stories like this one, the debate over gay rights in this
country would end.”

Shannon Curtis is a songwriter and performer from Los Angeles.
“Brightest Light in the Room” is the first single from her
forthcoming album, recorded by producer/mixer husband Jamie Hill
(Jens Lekman, The Presets, Nada Surf), and will be released worldwide
by Saint Cloud Records on May 31, 2011. Curtis has previously released
3 EPs and one acoustic LP, and has sold nearly 10,000 of those records
to date. Curtis’ song “Before the Sun” was featured on MTV’s
The Hills, and a Korean record label released a compilation of their
favorite tracks from Curtis’s previous releases – boldly titled
Shannon Curtis The Great – in the summer of 2010.

For more information about Shannon, visit her website at shannoncurtis.net!

You can also listen to clips of more tracks on iTunes: