The House of Representatives will be voting today to try and repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy which bars gays lesbians from openly serving in the military after the effort was defeated in the Senate last week.

The plan was announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who tweeted on Tuesday that, "The House will vote on Rep. Patrick Murphy's standalone #DADT repeal bill tomorrow-Senate action on #DADT is long overdue."

Pelosi, President Obama, and other Democrats are generally in favor of the repeal while the majority of Republicans, led by Sen. John McCain of Arizona, say that changing the policy in the midst of two wars would be too risky.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) on Wednesday referred to the DADT as a "discriminatory and harmful policy has weakened America's security by depriving us of the work of tens of thousands of gay and lesbian troops who have served their country honorably."

"And it has severely compromised our Armed Forces' core value of integrity," he added.

An earlier DADT repeal was passed by the House in May as a part of a larger defense bill although the measure was stalled in the Senate.

Some 13,500 service members have been dismissed under DADT since the law's enactment in 1993 under former President Bill Clinton. A recent Washington Post-ABC News survey shows that 77 percent of Americans are in favor of a repeal.