The Obama administration, with growing support from top military brass and members of Congress, including half of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is moving to repeal the Don't Ask Don't Tell law — a 1993 compromise by President Clinton that lifted the longstanding outright ban on gays and lesbians serving in the military.

Since 1994 there have been 13,500 discharges under that law.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have echoed the call to action by saying the military is ready for change.

The 2009 Military Readiness Enhancement Act was introduced last March by California Rep. Ellen Tauscher, who  three months later resigned to accept a presidentlal appointment as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control.

The bill is currently being reviewed by the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on military personnel. It now has 187 cosponsors. Among them are nearly 20 Latino members of Congress, including non-voting member Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico.

One of them, Loretta Sánchez (D-Calif.), is a subcommittee member. To Hispanic Link News Service, she minced no words: "No individual should have to hide who they are to serve in America's military. This is an issue of fairness that affects all of us, regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation."

Edwin Emilio Corbin Gutiérrez, project coordinator with the Association of Latino Men for Action, frames the repeal effort as an important step toward greater civil liberties.

"We are seeing a wave of change in public attitudes, especially among young people," he says. "They are much more accepting now."

Not true, counters the Christian Coalition of America. It is launching a national campaign to defeat the bill. Its president Roberta Combs is urging members, "Let the  President know...the military is no place for social experimentation.

"The Don't Ask Don't Tell policy has been in place since the early '90s and it is overwhelmingly supported by majorities of the American public, and more importantly, an overwhelming majority of our men and women in uniform."

In 1993, Colin Powell, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs, spoke against allowing gays to serve in the Armed Forces at all. More recently, he has commented in favor of lifting the ban.

Even in what syndicated columnist Eugene Robinson labeled “a miracle” this month, former vice president Dick Cheney now says it’s time to reconsider the policy.

Kevin Nix, director of communication for the Washington D.C.-based Legal Defense Network, defined his organization's position to Hispanic Link: "This is not a liberal, conservative, Democrat or Republican issue at all. It is in fact one of the most bipartisan supported proposals in the country. The impact is not only important to Latinos. It is important to everybody."

Addressing the Senate Armed Services Committee  Feb. 2, Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) characterized Don't Ask Don't Tell as an "imperfect but effective policy."  Changing it would disrupt unit cohesion, he said.

Speaking in Iowa in 2006, he endorsed the law with the proviso, "The day the leadership of the military comes to me and says, 'Senator, we ought to change the policy,'  then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it."

Referring to McCain's comments, Nix responded, "I would challenge anyone to come out and point to there being a problem with unit cohesion, morale or good order. We have yet to hear what the examples are."

(Luis Carlos López, of Washington, D.C., is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service. Email him at [email protected])