On Tuesday, El Paso launched its very first LGBT for Obama group. A.J., a local Organizing Fellow, decided to take the lead on creating a group that is near and dear to his heart:

“As a military veteran, I experienced the struggle of having to follow the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policies that were in place. Even though I loved the service, I felt like we were being treated as second-class citizens. We were putting our lives on the line, but we were not allowed to be ourselves. When President Obama ended ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, I had tears in my eyes. It was a major step towards equal rights for LGBT Americans. With President Obama on our side, we will continue to make progress and move forward on this issue.”

Take a look at the progress we’ve achieved over the last three years:

Progress for the LGBT Community