A new resolution introduced in the U.S. House apologizes for the federal government's treatment of LGBTQ federal civilian workers and U.S. service members, who were once subject to expulsion from their positions because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, The Washington Blade reported.
U.S. Rep. David Cicilline (D-Rhode Island) introduced the resolution July 21. It is a companion to an identical resolution introduced last month in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin).
Joining Cicilline in introducing the resolution as an original co-sponsor was U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), who, like Cicilline, is an openly gay member of Congress and a co-chair of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus.
The 1993 law known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (under then-President Bill Clinton) required the discharge of U.S. service members for being openly gay, although then-President Barack Obama repealed it in 2010. Frank Kameny is probably the most famous civilian worker persecuted for being part of the LGBTQ community; he was fired from his job in the U.S. government as an astronomer in 1958.
