(Washington) As President Barrack Obama begins his first day of work at the White House expectations are high for America’s LGBT citizens.

Within minutes of Obama’s swearing-in at the Capitol on Tuesday the office White House Web site was completely updated to reflect the new administration – including the President’s LGBT campaign pledges.

It includes a quote by Obama from June 1, 2007: “While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It’s about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect.”

The Web site says that the President supports the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Federal Defense of Marriage Act.

It also says that Obama would fight for civil unions and federal rights for same-sex couples and guarantee adoption rights. And it pledges to fight any attempt to pass an amendment to the Constitution that would ban same-sex marriage.

In addition, the site said the President is pledged to support for AIDS relief, both nationally and abroad.

But while Obama is supportive of the LGBT communit, it will be up to Congress to pass the necessary legislation. Even with Democrats firmly in control of both houses it will take intensive lobbying to pass any of the bills that the President has committed himself to sign.

None of the bills has yet been introduced.

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crime Act was named for the 21 year old college student who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998. It would have added sexuality to the list of categories covered under federal hate crime law.

The bill passed the House in 2007 and the White House threatened to veto it. In an effort to get around a veto the Senate version was tied to the 2008 defense authorization bill.  It passed but then went to conference where it was stripped out.

If the Shepard Act is passed it would allow federal charges to be laid in hate crimes against gays and give judges power to impose tougher sentences.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, also passed the House in 2007 but without protections for the transgendered.

The legislation would have made it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in hiring, firing, promoting or paying an employee.

When ENDA returns it is likely to include gender identity protections.

ENDA, originally introduced by Frank, included transpeople, but Frank removed those protections in committee saying it would be impossible to pass.

More than a dozen LGBT groups immediately distanced themselves from the legislation. Frank later reversed himself and said he would fight to ensure an inclusive ENDA is passed.

Legislation to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” the ban on gays serving openly in the military was taken up in committee last year for the first time, but did not make it to a vote.

DADT was enacted in 1993. Since then more than 12,000 servicemembers have been dismissed when it was learned they are gay.  According to statistics from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network which advocates for gays in the military an average of two service members are dismissed under the law every day.

The so-called federal Defense of Marriage law forbids the federal government from recognizing any form of gay union – marriage, civil union or domestic partnership.

While pro-LGBT legislation is mulled by Congress, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at her confirmation hearing that she would review policies to see what could be changed to assist LGBT personnel at the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and other foreign affairs agencies.

A return to protections for LGBT federal workers instituted under President Bill Clinton and abandoned during the Bush presidency also has been re-established.

But how soon Congress will act will likely depend on other issues.  The economy remains in turmoil.  The country remains at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  And there is the thorny problem of Gaza.