Uncle Steny-- Gay Rights Champion

When Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) led more than a dozen lawmakers onto a Capitol stage Tuesday to commemorate the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, she earned a minute-long standing ovation from a packed auditorium of gay rights supporters.

But behind the scenes, several leading gay rights advocates say it is Pelosi’s chief deputy and former rival, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who deserves the lion’s share of credit for pushing the legislation across the finish line in recent weeks.

“He brought it back from the dead twice,” said Winnie Stachelberg, senior vice president at the Center for American Progress, who represented the liberal think tank in meetings on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal bill.

Gay rights advocates describe Hoyer as the unsung hero of the painstaking push to end the military ban, giving him the kind of praise on gay rights more often reserved for the Speaker from San Francisco.

“At the moment where it was critical to get this done, Hoyer really stepped up to the plate and made it a priority,” said Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic lobbyist and gay rights advocate.

The vice president of the Human Rights Campaign, Fred Sainz, said Hoyer made the repeal effort “a personal cause of his.”

More gushing praise here