OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Issue Position: LGBTQ, Ensuring Equality for LGBTQs

Issue Position

Date: Jan. 1, 2013
Issues: Military Personnel Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Immigration

Repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell

For over 60 years, it has been the U.S. military's official policy to exclude lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individulals based on their sexual orientation and gender identification. Reflecting one of our country's last officially sanctioned forms of bigotry, this policy stigmatizes patriotic Americans by excluding them from military service. This policy is not only unfair to LGBTQ individuals, it also hinders our military's ability to perform its mission.

Despite our need for language specialists, almost 800 mission-critical troops and at least 59 Arabic and nine Farsi linguists have been discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the last five years solely based on their sexual orientation. Today there are over one million gay and lesbian veterans and over 65,000 LGBT members of the military serving in fear of being discharged for simply being themselves.

Repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell" has been long overdue. On May 28, 2010, I voted for an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2011 Defense Authorization Bill, which calls for a repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" pending a study from the Pentagon on its impact. On this issue, the military courts have spoken, military leaders have spoken, service members have spoken, and our President has spoken. In December of 2010, Congress finally spoke, passing a standalone repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell".

Immigration Benefits for Same-Sex Permanent Partners

I introduced the Reuniting Families Act (H.R. 717) to reduce family immigration visa backlogs and promote humane and timely reunification of immigrant families -- all immigrant families. To that end, I was proud to incorporate Congressman Nadler's Uniting American Families Act (H.R. 519) to eliminate discrimination in federal immigration law against same-sex, permanent partners and their families who are seeking to reunite. This bill marks the first time same-sex permanent partners have been included in larger family immigration legislation.


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