armed forces

DeGeneres will host a bevy of celebrities and one very special guest from our armed forces, US Air Force Staff Sergeant Angie Johnson, the woman behind the soulful lead vocals in the viral YouTube hit military cover of Adele's "Rolling In The Deep."

Four new discharges come as LGBT members of the armed forces continue to await DADT’s repeal certification, which is now expected sometime in late July or early August.

A former Marine, Liz Carmouche was attracted to MMA Fighting for the challenging athleticism, but before long, she would rise to the top of her class. Even more surprising than her rapid success, Carmouche found more acceptance as an out lesbian in the male-dominated, violent sport than she ever had in the armed forces.

Despite protests from groups like One Million Moms, the Kevin Keller issue of Life With Archie that featured Keller’s same-sex wedding has sold out. In the comic, Kevin, the series’ first gay character, marries a male doctor he met following injuries sustained in the armed forces. The storyline began with a friendship in the hospital and blossomed into a romance.

In a Sunday appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, Arizona senator John McCain cast doubt on the validity of the Pentagon’s "don't ask, don't tell" repeal study and said that any end to the policy will require further congressional hearings. Gregory pressed McCain on details of the Pentagon Working Group study leaked last week to the Washington Post, which found that more than 70% of service members who responded to a survey believe DADT repeal will have a positive, mixed or negligible effect on the armed forces.

The White House Office of the Press Secretary issued the following statement from President Barack Obama regarding the failed vote on the defense authorization bill that included "don't ask, don't tell" repeal and will continue to force lesbian and gay soldiers to serve in the closet. 'I want to thank Majority Leader Reid, Armed Services Committee Chairman Levin, and Senators Lieberman and Collins for all the work they have done on this bill. While today’s vote was disappointing, it must not be the end of our efforts. I urge the Senate to revisit these important issues during the lame duck session.'

The White House on Tuesday issued the following statement from President Barack Obama on the end of "don't ask, don't tell." Official repeal of the 1993 policy went into effect at 12:01 a.m. this morning. "Today, the discriminatory law known as ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is finally and formally repealed. As of today, patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love. As of today, our armed forces will no longer lose the extraordinary skills and combat experience of so many gay and lesbian service members. And today, as Commander in Chief, I want those who were discharged under this law to know that your country deeply values your service.

Who knew Salma Hayek was so terrified of snakes? The Oscar-nominated actress, who's taken on bad-ass roles in Desperadoand From Dusk till Dawn, jumped up on to a chair and clung to her Grown Ups costar Maya Rudolph like a fifties' sitcom housewife who's just seen a mouse, when a snake slithered on to the set of an interview they were giving for the film. Here are Salma, Maria Bello and Maya running from a rogue snake.

New data from the Palm Center shows that the military continued to discharge openly gay mission-critical troops under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in 2009, while a disproportionately high number of women and minorities were discharged under the policy.

With members of the House and Senate and three discharged service members at her side, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi signed the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” Tuesday on Capitol Hill. Pelosi hugged a tearful Barney Frank moments before signing the legislation. Rep. Patrick Murphy, who introduced the stand-alone bill repealing the gay ban in the House, spoke before Pelosi signed.

Tereska Torrés, a French writer who "accidentally" wrote the first lesbian pulp fiction novel in the U.S., died on Thursday at age 92.

Republican Senator John McCain, whose wife Cindy McCain and daughter Meghan McCain have both posed for the NOH8 Campaign, issued a response to President Obama's State of the Union Address promise to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" in the coming year.

The YouTube site WIGS announced that The L Word’s Jennifer Beals and Pretty Little Liars’Troian Bellisario are teaming up again for twelve new episodes of their webseries Lauren. Bellisario, better known to many as Spencer Hastings on PLL, plays the title character, a sergeant in the US Army, who makes the decision to report the fact that she had been raped by several male soldiers. Her testimony makes it all the way up her chain of command to Major Jo Stone, played by Beals, whose lack of support for her fellow female soldier is perpetuated by a broken system.

The Pentagon said on Tuesday it is moving ahead with plans to end the U.S. military's ban on allowing women to serve in submarines.

Senior officials at the Pentagon today announced that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta will remove the almost 20-year-old ban on women in the military serving in combat positions.

If you work with the media in any capacity, GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) has a message to share with you. Please tell the stories of our LGBT heroes.  Especially right now.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis says that president Obama's "good intentions" to overturn "Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' -- the discriminatory ban on openly gay service members -- are not enough.

The White House says President Obama agrees with the Pentagon report that repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” would not disrupt unit cohesion. The President issued a statement about repealing the antigay measure and allowing lesbians and gays to serve openly in the military.