Transition matters: LGBT news from the new presidential administration
by Lisa Keen contributing writer Thursday Jan 29, 2009 The latest LGBT news from the new presidential administration Two more appointments: The Obama administration has appointed two more openly gay people to White House staff positions this month. Mark Perriello, who has been heading up the Victory Fund’s LGBT Presidential Appointments Project, has won appointment as Director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. And Ebs Burnough, former head of a political action committee for U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), has been appointed deputy social secretary to the First Lady. That brings to 12 the number of openly gay people appointed to positions, thus far, in the Obama administration. High party official: Ray Buckley, New Hampshire’s openly gay state Democratic Party chair, has become vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee -- the second-ranked party official. He assumed the position by virtue of having won office as president of the Association of State Democratic Chairs. National Stonewall Democrats leader Jon Hoadley said the ascension of Buckley "elevates another strong voice for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans within the Democratic Party." Clinton prodded: More than 2,000 federal employees signed a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Jan. 26, asking her to ensure that gay employees of the department get equal benefits to straight employees. Clinton said during her confirmation hearing earlier this month that she planned to "take a hard look" at State’s existing policy, which allows certain travel benefits for the spouses of straight employees but not for the partners of gay employees. But she was otherwise non-committal. In a letter from Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies, the federal employees said many of the inequities could be remedied by a directive from Clinton. A spokesperson for Clinton told the Washington Post that Clinton "wants to review this soon and plans to hear from all relevant stakeholders." New senator: Reaction has been generally positive for New York Governor David Paterson’s choice of an upstate Democratic state representative to fill Clinton’s U.S. Senate seat. The Human Rights Campaign called it a "step forward" for LGBT people, saying she has a "strong" record on the community’s issues. The Empire State Pride Agenda, a New York State LGBT political group, said Kirsten Gillibrand "supports the full repeal" of the Defense of Marriage Act and the "Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell" policy of excluding gays in the military. Commission call: The former head of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights published a commentary in the New York Times January 15, calling on President Obama to dismantle the existing commission and create a new one. Mary Frances Berry said the Commission on Civil Rights "has been crippled since the Reagan years by the appointments of commissioners who see themselves as agents of the presidential administration rather than as independent watchdogs." And the first order of business for a newly constituted commission, she said, should be recommending ways "for resolving the controversies over the rights of gays, lesbians and transgendered." Berry, a Clinton appointee, left the commission in 2004.
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