Congress in gridlock, push for LGBT rights continues

President Barack Obama

President Barack Obama (Photo: Susan Walsh/AP)

BY AMANDA TERKEL
Huffington Post Gay Voices

The GOP-controlled House of Representatives continues to use taxpayer money to uphold a law barring federal recognition of same-sex marriage, and even smaller provisions often meet with stiff resistance. But in the meantime, the Obama administration has been advancing LGBT equality by using its executive authority in federal agencies. Working within existing law, Cabinet secretaries have searched for ways to ensure that gay men and women receive equal rights through regulatory changes.

Successes across the executive branch include granting same-sex benefits to partners of federal employees, ending the ban on travel to the United States for people with HIV/AIDS, granting hospital visitation and medical rights to LGBT individuals at facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding, and providing foreign service benefits to same-sex partners.

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

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