American Civil Liberties Union

Earlier this month, President Obama asked the Department of Health and Human Services to order all hospitals that participate in Medicaid and Medicare to allow patients to designate who shall be allowed to visit them and make medical decisions on their behalf. This is one of the most pro-LGBT rights policies so far adopted by the Obama administration. Another important advancement was the decision to explicitly ban employment discrimination in federal jobs based on gender identity. While there have been important and meaningful changes announced since the start of President Obama's administration for the LGBT community, action in Congress has not been nearly to the level that it should.

Kudos to California Congresswomen Sue Davis and Ellen Tauscher for initiating what could be the beginning of the end of former President Bill Clinton's colossally stupid, discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy barring gays and lesbians from serving in the military. Congresswoman Davis held a hearing in the House Armed Services' Personnel Readiness Subcommittee yesterday.

The Washington Post reported last weekend that a whopping 75 percent of Americans think that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military. (A CNN poll from May puts the figure as high as 79 percent.) Since enacting the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy 15 years ago, the military has dismissed more than 12,500 gay men and lesbians. ABC News reports that the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) "says nearly 800 of those dismissed had skills the Pentagon deemed 'mission critical.'"

Late on Wednesday evening, the House Armed Services Committee adopted a series of harmful amendments designed to delay, derail and turn back the clock on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) repeal implementation. The amendments were added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012.

One amendment would delay repeal implementation by expanding the repeal law's certification requirements to include each service chief for each branch of the armed forces. The law currently stipulates that the repeal will not take effect until President Obama, the secretary of defense, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that the new law will not have a negative impact on readiness, recruitment, retention, and other key factors affecting the military. Expanding the number of officials required for certification is simply an effort to slow the process down, and something that has been strongly opposed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.