Last week Congressional officials told me they're unwilling to move ahead with a legislative repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" law without vocal support from the president. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid went even further, saying that language for legislation needed to start at the White House before the Senate will consider action.

Today, 77 members of the House again tried to prod President Barack Obama into action, sending him a letter urging he "suspend" enforcement of the military ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers in the ranks. More precisely, that means:

"We ask that you direct the Armed Services not to initiate any investigation of service personnel to determine their sexual orientation, and that you instruct them to disregard third party accusations that do not allege violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. That is, we request that you impose that no one is asked and that you ignore, as the law requires, third parties who tell."

All of the signees are Democrats. Only one is a member of the House leadership (James Clyburn of South Carolina) and only three sit on the House Armed Services Committee (James Langevin of Rhode Island, Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania, and Niki Tsongas of Massachusetts) which held hearings on the issue last year.

The lawmakers call the policy a "dishonorable and debilitating law" and also add that "Under your leadership, Congress must then repeal and replace Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell with a policy of inclusion and non-discrimination."

White House officials continue to say the president  is committed to overturning the ban, but in a "responsible way that strengthens national security." Meanwhile, opponents hope the movement stays stalled far into the future.