Gay rights groups and senior Obama officials met Tuesday at the White House to discuss repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the 1993 law that bans gay and bisexual troops from serving openly.

The Washington Post is reporting that President Obama appeared briefly at the meeting.

The president stopped by "to directly convey to the participants his personal commitment on the issue," an unnamed official told the paper.

Groups invited included representatives of the Center for American Progress, the Human Rights Campaign, Servicemembers United, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, the Palm Center, a think tank at the University of California at Santa Barbara, the Stonewall Democrats and the Log Cabin Republicans. They met with several senior Obama officials, including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.

While participants declined to discuss details, several reports are speculating that a second Senate attempt to repeal the policy during a lame-duck session after the November midterm elections was discussed at the meeting

The meeting comes as the Obama administration is asking an appeals court to permanently suspend a lower court's ruling ordering the Pentagon to stop enforcing the ban.  Obama has said he agrees that the law should be repealed but is pursuing an appeal because he's looking for a "durable" solution from Congress.

Advocates for repeal remain optimistic that the law can be repealed this year. But Republicans - led by Arizona Senator John McCain -- have already threatened to kill the effort with a filibuster.