Washington– Yesterday Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) introduced legislation banning marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples on military facilities and requiring regulations that micromanage established Pentagon policies on personnel matters. Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, issued the following statement regarding H.R.3828 -- Military Religious Freedom Protection Act:

“Rep. Huelskamp and other right wing Republican Members of Congress appear to have missed the memo from military leaders who say that open service is working just fine.  Instead, in their compulsive need to use our brave men and women in uniform as political pawns, these Members of Congress have invented issues that don’t exist in order to score some points.  These antics coming from Rep. Huelskamp shouldn’t be a surprise as he was the one forced to admit on the floor of the U.S. House last summer that he wanted to strip funding for training materials that he hadn’t even read.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.