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.

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 producer said reading “The Pink Marine” — Greg Cope White’s 2016 memoir about joining the Marines as a closeted 18-year-old in 1979 — was like exploring “the road not taken” as an adult. Five years after selling his take on an adaptation of the memoir, Parker’s biggest, and arguably most personal, project has arrived on Netflix.

Executive produced by the late Norman Lear, who had been a long-time writing mentor to Cope White, “Boots” follows Cameron Cope (Miles Heizer), a young, gay recruit who impulsively joins Marine boot camp in 1990 alongside his straight best friend, Ray McAffey (Liam Oh). As he struggles to meet both the physical and emotional demands of boot camp, Cameron must also hide his sexuality at a time when being gay in the military was still a criminal offense. (The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which allowed gay, lesbian and bisexual people to serve as long as they kept their sexual orientation a secret, went into effect in 1994 and lasted until 2011.)

Max Parker, left, as Sgt. Sullivan and Miles Heizer as Cameron Cope in "Boots."Alfonso "Pompo" Bresciani / Netflix“Boot camp is a factory of transformation. That’s what this place is designed to do, to test each and every recruit and to turn them into something else,” said Parker, who serves as co-showrunner with Jennifer Cecil. “So, yes, at its heart, there’s this gay kid who’s going into this intense context, but every other recruit — gay, straight — is also on a similar journey of transformation, and that is what felt exciting and universal to me.”