“I’m a Marine, but I’m also gay,” reads Russell McCabe’s YouTube bio line.

Six years ago, McCabe joined the United States Marine Corps – a branch of the American Armed Forces that is responsible for the rapid and effective deployment of forces in response to crises and warfare.

Military environments in general have a stereotypical reputation of being populated with hard-nosed, by the book men who are intolerant of difference – and that probably applies to the Marines more than most. Up until the early nineties, homosexuals were banned from enlisting in any American military force, and even after Bill Clinton signed the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' law in 1993, if a soldier revealed their sexuality, they were to be immediately discharged.

When, in 2010, the policy finally looked to be on its way out, a disproportionate amount of the Marine Corps overtly resisted ending the practice, with high ranking officials openly voicing their support of the policy.

General James Conway was quoted by The Washington Post as observing that "an overwhelming majority [of Marines] would like not to be roomed with a person that is openly homosexual." The Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine General Peter Pace, added that "homosexual acts between individuals are immoral, and we should not condone immoral acts."

However, Russell, who enlisted during the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' era in 2009, tells me he has never felt as accepted as he did while serving amongst his fellow soldiers.

"When I joined the Marines, I was 20-years old," says McCabe. "But it still took me two years to settle in and summon up the courage to actually come out to the people I spent every day with" - 2011 saw the repealment of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy.

"I didn’t know of any other openly gay men in the Marines at the time I came out. That’s not to say that there weren’t any – when I was in the Marines, I had a boyfriend who was also a Marine. However, he never came out during the entire time we were serving together, and I know for a fact that even though his contract is now up and he is no longer in the Marines, he is still yet to come out."

McCabe believes that the secrecy exhibited by many homosexual recruits is unwarranted. The 26-year old, originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, says that he was immediately accepted by his peers.

"When I came out to my fellow Marines," says McCabe, "I was completely accepted – without exception. There’s this homophobic stereotype of the ‘military man’ who is intolerant, but that wasn’t the case at all. In fact, I found that most of the people who acted in a homophobic way towards me were those who had nothing to do with the military at all. Whether that’s because they didn’t know me, I don’t know.

"When I came out to my fellow Marines, I was completely accepted – without exception"

"But I don’t think that the military is anywhere near as homophobic as people perceive it to be. Quite the opposite, in fact. But I guess that just happens when you’re working a job where any one of you could be gone at any time – it really puts things into perspective and people realise what’s important. Sexuality has no bearing on the job, so why worry about it?

"When I came out to the first guy in my platoon I was incredibly nervous," McCabe recalls. "His response made me feel so accepted. He told me this: 'If we found ourselves down-range with bullets flying towards us, the last thing on any of our minds would be whether or not the man next to us is gay or not.'

"That really meant a lot to me. And it was that positive response which really gave me the courage to come out to the rest of my fellow Marines."

McCabe, who left the Marines almost exactly a year ago, is currently planning on furthering his education at University. With so many new people coming into his life, telling people he was one of the first openly gay Marines frequently comes up in conversation. So how do people tend to respond when McCabe tells them that he was a gay Marine?

"These days, because society has moved on and is more accepting, they’re more surprised that I was a Marine!" laughs McCabe. "Forget being gay, 1 in 30 US citizens is gay. But being a Marine is pretty rare. So, nowadays, it seems like more of a big deal to say I was a Marine – that’s what people would focus on and ask me about, the whole experience, they wouldn’t necessarily pick up on or even care about my sexuality."

A photo posted by Russ Marine (@russmarine2014) on Jun 20, 2014 at 7:01am PDT

The ex-marine is now spending his civilian life helping others come to terms with their sexuality. His weekly YouTube Q&As are consistently watched by hundreds of thousands; his channel boasts 53,000 subscribers.

"YouTube was an invaluable resource for me to express my feelings," says the ex-Marine. "However, like anything with a comment section that lets the general public voice their views, I got more than my fair share of hate. But having the ability to tell my story on a platform like YouTube has opened more doors than I would ever have guessed it could.

"YouTube was an invaluable resource for me to express my feelings"

"For instance," he continues, "I’ve had Marines come up to me or contact me before saying that they were able to come out without fear of prejudice or consequences because of my experience. And that’s a great feeling. I felt that it was really important to tell people my story and get it out there so as to show other people that being gay doesn’t mean you have to follow the stereotypes."

McCabe believes that defining people by their sexuality is damaging in the extreme. His straight-talking bio line – with which this article began – is just one way which the ex-serviceman tries to shock and subvert the expectations and perceived stereotypes of others.

"Just as gay stereotypes can be damaging and limiting in this way," McCabe concludes, "it can be the same with other groups. So I wanted to tell my story to prove that the military doesn’t conform to this narrow-minded, homophobic stereotype. In fact, I’ve never had a problem with anybody in the military regarding my sexuality.

"So that's really what I wanted to prove with my YouTube videos: that stereotypes go both ways. And whilst I'm not a stereotype of a gay man, my experience shows that the military is not this stereotypically intolerant environment many perceive it to be either."