The U.S. Defense Department has given permission to active-duty service members to march in uniform in a gay pride parade in San Diego, California.

The Pentagon issued a memorandum Thursday saying it was permitting members of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines to openly take part in Saturday's event because of national media attention. Military personnel are prohibited from marching in parades in uniform unless they receive approval from their commanding officers.

The order is the first since a law repealing the military's long-standing “don't ask, don't tell” policy, which allowed homosexual men and women to serve as long as they did not reveal their sexual orientation, went into effect last September.