Tonight is the president’s State of the Union address and
while he is sure to address health care reform there is some hope that Obama may
also call on Congress to repeal
the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy for the military.

Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee,
set off the guessing game Monday when he told reporters that the White House
asked him to postpone an announcement about an upcoming hearing on the
so-called ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy because the president
plans to address the issue.

The Michigan Democrat said he didn’t know what Obama plans
to say, but speculation is mounting that he will call on Congress to
repeal the 1993 law that established the policy that bars gays from serving
openly in the ranks — either by proposing his own legislation or backing a
draft bill in the House sponsored by Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy,
an Iraq War veteran who represents suburban Philadelphia.

This would be welcome news, particularly since President
Obama promised to repeal "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" when campaigning in 2008.
Coincidentally the Williams
Institute at the UCLA School of Law, a public policy institute that studies
sexual orientation law, just released a survey that shows an increase of gay
men and women serving in the military.

An estimated 66,000 gay, lesbian
and bisexual people are serving in the U.S. military, roughly 2 percent of all
military personnel, according to a report released Tuesday by a gay rights
policy center. The figures suggest a slight increase in the number of gays,
lesbians and bisexuals in the military, and they provide opponents of the
military’s "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy with fresh data as they
lobby the Obama administration for its repeal.

Gays, lesbians and bisexuals
account for about 13,000 active duty service members, equal to less than 1
percent currently deployed, the report estimated. About 53,000 others serve in
the National Guard and reserves, equaling about 3.4 percent.

In other good news for gay men and women the online dating
site eHarmony, which didn’t offer gay, lesbian and bisexual matching services
until last year, has settled
a class action lawsuit.

As a result of a 2008 settlement
with the state of New Jersey, which sued the company for discrimination, men
and women seeking same-sex matches were redirected from eHarmony to an
affiliate Web site, Compatiblepartners.net.

A separate class-action civil
rights lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles in 2007, saying that eHarmony violated
California law barring businesses from discriminating based on sexual
orientation.

The proposed settlement would
require eHarmony to display its gay and lesbian dating services more
prominently.

 Bonus item: Remember the former president, George W. Bush?
He’s fundraising for a
crisis pregnancy center in Indiana.