One of the features of the American military is that it is supposed to serve determined civilian aims as a branch of government subordinated to civilian control. In the Groundhog Day hearing this year on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy of discriminating against gay and lesbian Americans, and in the upcoming follow-up hearing in [...]

When Harold Ford was a Democratic congressman from Tennessee, he voted twice for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Running for a U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee, he actively asserted his opposition to gay marriage: “I oppose gay marriage. This November, there’s a referendum on the Tennessee ballot to ban same-sex marriage — I [...]

The beginning of a new month marks a good time to look back at the old. And so, with an update of our LGBT Equality Caucus Report, let’s consider what members of one of the largest caucuses on Capitol Hill were up to in January of 2010. In the month of January, 3 new bills [...]

The following marks the measurable activity of the LGBT Equality Caucus in the House of Representatives from October 19 (the date of our last update on the caucus) to December 23, 2009: On October 28, President Barack Obama signed into law a Defense authorization bill containing legislation defining violence against people on the basis of [...]

In the immediate wake of the National Equality March, some momentum for equal rights legislation was apparent. But that momentum seems to have come crashing to a halt. Senator Carl Levin had promised in October to hold a hearing on reform to the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law, a law that codifies military anti-gay discrimination. [...]

Tim Ryan won election to Ohio’s 17th District congressional seat by a whopping 56 point margin in 2008. Such an overwhelming election result signifies that Ryan has quite a bit of wiggle room when it comes to policy. A landslide winner like Ryan could follow his policy dictates with a fair amount of free will, [...]

On October 11, tens of thousands of Americans marched through the streets of Washington, DC demanding equal protection under law for gay and lesbian people and for same-sex couples. The National Equality March clearly succeeded in attracting media attention, as wire services and newspapers and television cameras recorded and reported on the event. But the [...]

With Congress back in session after the August recess, it’s time for another update to our report on the activity of the LGBT Equality Caucus in the House of Representatives. Our report evaluates the 79 members of the LGBT Equality Caucus against the standard set by the caucus itself: a slate of 16 bills identified [...]

As part of our ongoing series of legislative reports, we at That’s My Congress regularly update our LGBT Equality Caucus scorecard to reflect the performance of members of the LGBT Equality Caucus in supporting bills in the caucus’ own slate. As you might expect for a set of representatives choosing to affiliate themselves with the [...]

Today we update our That’s My Congress report on the activity of the LGBT Equality Caucus in the House of Representatives. Our report evaluates the 79 members of the LGBT Equality Caucus against the standard set by the caucus itself: a slate of 12 bills standing in promotion of the caucus agenda “to promote lesbian, [...]