Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis) is a pioneer. Rep. Baldwin, 48, was the first woman elected to Congress from the state of Wisconsin. She is also the first openly gay, non-incumbent candidate to be elected to Congress in the United States.

After fifteen years together, Baldwin and her partner, Lauren Azar, are separating. Baldwin and Azar were among the first couples to register as domestic partners in Wisconsin in 2009. Wisconsin’s domestic partnership legislation offers registered couples benefits such as hospital visitation rights.

As far as the separation goes, the former couple has kept mainly silent. An announcement issued through Baldwin’s office has been the only public statement regarding the break-up.  “Accordingly, they will also terminate their Wisconsin domestic partnership,” the announcement says. “Neither Tammy nor Lauren will have any further public comment on this very private matter.”

An avid reader, Baldwin used literature to ease the coming-out process in college. “Books played an important role in giving context to a topic rarely discussed in schools or around the dinner table.”  Randy Shilts’ The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk, and the works of Professor John Boswell and Rita Mae Brown, helped her realize that a lesbian can take an active role in shaping public policy.

First elected to the House of Representatives in 1999, Baldwin has been an avid champion of universal healthcare and LGBT rights. She has also played a huge part in orchestrating passage of the Domestic Partnership and Obligations Act, a bill that she co-sponsored in the House with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), also a champion of LGBT rights. The bill ensures that the partners of federal employees receive federal benefits, such as health insurance.

After coming out as a lesbian in college, Baldwin has never looked back. While running for office, she decided that she would run a truthful campaign—and that meant being open about her sexual orientation. She never hid the fact that she was a lesbian. “But there was also, believe it or not, an advantage to being open and honest about who I am. In a world too full of half-truths and whole lies, those of us who are “out” are perceived as being honest–of having integrity,” says Baldwin on her website.

“When I ran for the Wisconsin Assembly in 1992, people told me time and time again that my integrity mattered. I remember being approached by a gentleman who I wouldn’t have picked to be a big supporter. But he got up to me and said, ‘Gosh, Lady, you’ve sure got guts. If you can be honest about that, you’ll probably be honest about everything.’ I got his vote!”

Baldwin’s political career began inauspiciously. As a middle-school student, she ran for Student Council President and lost. She also lost elections in high school and college, failing to become the high school graduation speaker and college class president. Despite these early losses, she forged ahead to pave the way for American women and lesbians interested in politics. “I hope that’s a lesson for other people, young and older, who are dreaming big dreams!”

By DMITRY RASHNITSOV

Petty Officer Larry Whitt of Fort Lauderdale traveled to Washington DC two months ago and got arrested after chaining himself to the White House. Now Officer Whitt and the thousands of other United States military personnel who have been fighting the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy know their work has not been in vain. By a 234-194 vote last week, The United States House of Representatives approved an amendment to repeal the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. Miami representative Ileana Ros Lehtinen was one of the few republicans to vote for the repeal.The Senate Armed Service Committee, by a 16-12, approved a similar amendment repealing DADT. Florida Senator Bill Nelson did vote for the repeal in the committee. The full Senate must still vote on the measure, expected sometime this week.

If the amendment is passed in the Senate, the actual repeal would take place 60 days after a Pentagon report about the affects of letting gays and lesbians serve openly is completed. The report is due by December 1.

“I am pleased that both the House of Representatives and the Senate Armed Services Committee took important bipartisan steps toward repeal tonight… Our military is made up of the best and bravest men and women in our nation, and my greatest honor is leading them as Commander-in-Chief. This legislation will help make our Armed Forces even stronger and more inclusive by allowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve honestly and with integrity,” President Obama said in a statement after making it a campaign pledge of his to repeal the ban.

The American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER) and other LGBT groups are not exactly jumping in the air in excitement about having to wait for the actual repeal to happen after the December 1 report is returned, but they are pleased that this step towards LGBT equality was a long time coming.

“AVER is cautiously optimistic that the actions taken by Congress this week towards repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ will eventually accomplish an end to discrimination against gay and lesbian service members and halt the discharge of trained military professionals who possess critical skills necessary for our nation’s defense against terrorist attack,” said AVER National President Danny Ingram. “The bottom line of this week’s actions, however, is that today openly gay and lesbian troops are still being discharged from the military, which means that critical support services are still being denied to troops on the battlefield. And crucial members of America’s intelligence operations, including highly trained military linguists, are still being ejected from service.”

Support for the repeal among the general U.S. population is the strongest it has ever been. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey taken last week announced that 78 percent of the public favor allowing openly gay people to serve in the military.

Still, some right wing Christian groups are vehemently fighting to keep the ban intact.

According to a research paper published by the Family Research Council, an anti-GLBT group, “The military already has a serious problem with sexual assault by homosexuals. If the current law against homosexuality in the military is overturned, the problem of same-sex sexual assault in the military is sure to increase. If the law is overturned and open homosexuals are welcomed into the military, the number of homosexuals in the armed forces can only increase-leading to a corresponding increase in same-sex sexual assaults.”

The Family Research Council findings conclude that. “Allowing open homosexuality in the military would do nothing to enhance the readiness or effectiveness of our armed forces. On the contrary, it would clearly damage them-in part because it would increase the already serious problem of homosexual assault in the military.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid believes he has the 60 votes needed to get the legislation passed as part of the annual Pentagon budget.