Contact President Elect Obama

Voice your opinion of his choice to lead the Inauguration prayer, Rick Warren:  http://change.gov/page/content/contact/

Rick Warren is the hate-mongor from Saddleback Church which twists the Bible to fit his format.  He uses faith to drive fear and is openly hostile to the GLBT community.

Gay man backed as Navy secretary

Some top retired military leaders and some Democrats in Congress are backing William White, chief operating officer of the Intrepid Museum Foundation, to be the next secretary of the Navy – a move that would put the first openly gay person at the top of one of the services.

The secretary’s job is a civilian position, so it would not run afoul of the ban on gays serving in the military, but it would renew focus on the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy as President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office.

“He would be phenomenal,” said retired Gen. Hugh Shelton, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 2001, pointing to Mr. White’s extensive background as a fundraiser for veterans’ and military causes.

Retired members of the Joint Chiefs have contacted Mr. Obama’s transition team to urge them to pick Mr. White, and members of Congress said he would be a good choice for a service secretary.

“He’s very capable,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, New York Democrat, whose district includes the Intrepid Museum, a retired aircraft carrier berthed on the Hudson River in New York City.

Mr. Nadler said Mr. White has become a friend of the military, and particularly the service members and their families, both through the Intrepid and through Fisher Houses, which offer a place to stay so families can be close to military members who are receiving medical care.

A spokeswoman for the Obama campaign said they won’t comment on personnel decisions.

Others are in consideration, such as Juan Garcia, a former naval aviator who was defeated for re-election to his seat in the Texas House. Mr. Garcia is friends with Mr. Obama from their Harvard Law School days and was chairman of Mr. Obama’s Texas campaign.

Democratic members of Congress from Texas sent a letter to Mr. Obama earlier this month supporting Mr. Garcia for the position.

A spokesman said Mr. White would not comment.

If Mr. White were nominated, he likely would face questions during a Senate confirmation hearing over how his nomination would square with the military’s policies on gays.

In 1993, President Clinton signed into law a ban, and White House and congressional leaders settled on a new policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Under it, gay service members must keep their sexuality private or face expulsion. About 12,500 people have been discharged under the policy.

Supporters of the ban said nominating Mr. White would send the wrong signal.

“It’s a matter of judgment, and I think that would be very poor judgment on the part of the commander in chief,” said Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, which opposes gays serving in the military. “It would be very demoralizing to the troops.”

But Mr. Nadler said the military policy that says gays are a threat to unit cohesion is “nonsense,” and it shouldn’t apply to Mr. White anyway because as secretary “he’s not in the foxhole, he’s not on the ship.”

Gen. Shelton called Mr. White’s work at both the Intrepid Museum and the Fisher House Foundation “legendary.”

“He has always been a staunch advocate of our men and women in uniform,” Gen. Shelton said.

–Stephen Dinan

Obama Infuriates Gays: Chooses extremely anti-gay preacher Rick Warren for inauguration prayer

Read the article and watch the video:  http://www.metroweekly.com/gauge/last_word/2008/12/obama-angers-gays-with-choice.html

First Openly Gay Person Named to Obama’s Cabinet

Barack Obama’s selection of Nancy Sutley as chairwoman of the Council on Environmental Quality marks the first prominent, openly gay or lesbian to join his cabinet.

The news was widely covered in the gay press and Web sites.

“President-elect Obama’s nomination of Nancy Sutley is another step toward full equality for gay Americans,” Chuck Wolfe, president of the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute, said in a statement.

“It sends a signal to young people that they can participate in their government at its highest levels, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender or ethnicity.”

Sutley is currently the Los Angeles deputy mayor for energy and environment and the mayor’s rep on the board of directors for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. She also was a member of Hillary Clinton’s California Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender steering committee during the state’s primary.

Sutley has spent more than a decade in senior environmental, energy and water policy-making positions in California, according to The New York Times. A former aide to Carol Browner, the former EPA director during the Clinton administration and now Obama’s czar for policy, Sutley also has experience dealing with budget and legislative matters at the state and federal level. She is closely tied to figures in Los Angeles city and California state politics.

Sutley, 46, holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Cornell University and a master’s in public policy from Harvard.

–Newsmax

Obama’s Education Secretary Proposed Gay High School

Barack Obama’s choice for Secretary of Education, Chicago schools chief executive Arne Duncan, recommended the opening of a high school for gay, lesbian and transgender students.

 

The proposed 600-student School for Social Justice Pride Campus would cater to gays but be open to other students as well, according to the Chicago Tribune.

 

“If you look at national studies, you see gay and lesbian students with high dropout rates,” Duncan said on Oct. 8.

 

“Studies show they are disproportionately homeless.

 

“I think there is a niche there we need to fill.”

 

Supporters of the school asserted that it would help students find a safe education environment. A 2003 school district survey cited by the Tribune showed that gay and lesbian youths are three times more likely to miss school because of safety concerns.

 

Opponents have called the plan a misuse of public funds.

 

New York City opened a similar school in 2003, named for openly gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, who was assassinated in 1978.

–Jim Meyers

Activists pin hopes on Obama banning transgender bias

Six months ago, a highly decorated retired Army colonel told Congress of instantly going from “hero to zero” in the eyes of a prospective employer when she disclosed that she was in the process of changing gender.

Since that hearing, Congress has done nothing to protect transgender workers, despite evidence of outrageous job discrimination.

But a federal judge has stepped in to say that the Library of Congress broke the law against sex discrimination by rescinding the job offer it had made before learning David Schroer was becoming Diane.

“The evidence establishes that the Library was enthusiastic about hiring David Schroer — until she disclosed her transsexuality,” James Robertson, a U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia, ruled in September.

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“The Library revoked the offer when it learned that a man named David intended to become, legally, culturally, and physically, a woman named Diane. This was discrimination ‘because of … sex’,” the judge continued.

Schroer’s transition is being followed by another one in political Washington, of course. And the American Civil Liberties Union, which is handling her case, is hopeful that the new administration won’t fight the decision.

Already, the judge is preparing to order remedies, such as requiring the Library of Congress to hire Schroer and pay her back wages or monetary damages.

But the ruling, while a groundbreaking warning to other employers that they might be sued and held liable for similar discrimination, doesn’t automatically protect anyone beyond Schroer. In fact, federal judges disagree over whether federal sex discrimination laws cover transgender Americans.

A growing number of companies as well as 13 states — California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington — and the District of Columbia have enacted transgender protections. But most transgender workers are on their own in a workplace or job interview.

The ACLU is heartened, though, that President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, in an historic first, includes “gender identity” in its nondiscrimination policy for appointment-level jobs in the next administration.

The legal group hopes, as president, Obama will take the next step — signing an executive order formally banning job discrimination based on gender identity within the federal civilian work force.

President Bill Clinton signed a similar order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in civil service jobs. The ACLU wants Obama to expand it to cover government contractors as well, both based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

That still, unfortunately, would leave transgender workers vulnerable at private companies.

So the ALCU and other gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups are urging the Democratic-led Congress and Obama to fulfill campaign promises by outlawing job discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity — whether by Uncle Sam or his private-sector sisters.

Schroer’s ongoing legal battle over a job to provide expert policy analysis to Congress on terrorism underscores the need for swift action next year.

As David, she gave her country 25 years, including 16 in Special Forces with 450 parachute jumps and combat experience in Panama and Haiti, followed by directing a 120-person classified Pentagon organization that tracked and targeted terrorists.

It’s only right that the government repay Diane — as well as other transgender Americans — with equal job opportunities.

–Deb Price

Obama to Name Out LA Deputy Mayor to Environmental Post

A Democratic aide has confirmed to The Advocate that President-elect Obama is preparing to name openly gay Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Nancy Sutley as a senior member of his environmental team, as reported Wednesday by the The Los Angeles Times.

Sutley, who currently serves as deputy mayor of energy and the environment, will be named chairwoman of the Council of Environmental Quality, which helps develop environmental policy and advises the White House on such matters.

The announcement comes at a time when gay Democrats have been beginning to express concerns over the absence of LGBT representation in President-elect Obama’s senior-level appointees. Sutley originally supported Sen. Hillary Clinton in the primaries and was a member of her Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Steering Committee in California. But following the election, Obama asked her to join a team that is reviewing the Environmental Protection Agency. She will become the first out person named to a prominent position in the administration by President-elect Obama.

Sutley has a rich background in environmental public policy at both the federal and state levels, having served on the California State Water Resources Control Board, as energy advisor to Governor Gray Davis, and as the Deputy Secretary for Policy and Intergovernmental Relations within the California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As an appointee to the EPA, she helped shape water and air pollution policy, lobbied Congressional leadership, and formulated budget and legislative priorities. (Kerry Eleveld, Advocate.com)

A lesbian in the cabinet?

A lesbian in the cabinet?
by Ethan Jacobs
associate editor
Wednesday Dec 3, 2008

The Wall Street Journal reports that Obama may choose a lesbian to serve in his cabinet (and no, I don’t mean Janet Napolitano). The journal reports that labor activist Mary Beth Maxwell is being vetted for the the Labor Secretary post, although it is far from a done deal. Here’s the Journal’s description of Maxwell:

For the rainbow cabinet of the nation’s first African American president, Mary Beth Maxwell is the perfect labor secretary you’ve probably never heard of: a gay woman, community organizer and labor leader with an adopted African American son. And this founding executive director of American Rights at Work is about to get the full-court press.

The Journal reports that Human Rights Campaign has thrown their support behind her, but only after announcing their support for an earlier reported candidate for the post, Rep. Linda Sanchez. The paper reported that HRC President Joe Solmonese wrote the Obama campaign:

“While we remain supportive of Representative Sánchez’s candidacy, it has come to our attention that Mary Beth Maxwell is also being considered for this crucial position. Given Ms. Maxwell’s long history of leadership on labor issues, HRC is pleased to also endorse Mary Beth Maxwell for Secretary of Labor.”

The Journal reports that Maxwell may lose out to candidates with more star power, such as Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm or Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. But time will tell. Maybe we’ll get our first out lesbian cabinet member.

Hate crimes, ENDA seen as top legislative priorities

Hate crimes, ENDA seen as top legislative priorities
Activists hopeful that Democrats will push gay bills
By LOU CHIBBARO JR, Washington Blade | Dec 2, 3:33 PM

Officials with the Human Rights Campaign and National Gay & Lesbian Task Force are hopeful that Barack Obama’s administration and Democratic leaders in Congress will help orchestrate the passage next year of two gay rights bills that enjoy widespread support.

The Matthew Shepard Act, which would authorize federal authorities to prosecute anti-gay hate crimes, and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban job discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, are considered high priorities among gay-supportive lawmakers, officials with the two groups said.

“For the first time ever, we will have a president who has been a co-sponsor of both of these bills,” said David Stacy, HRC’s senior public policy advocate.

President-elect Obama sponsored the two bills during his tenure as a U.S. senator from Illinois.

During his campaign for president, Obama expressed support for nearly all other gay rights legislation pending in Congress, including bills that would provide domestic partnership benefits to federal employees, repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Other pending bills would provide U.S. immigration rights to foreign nationals who are domestic partners of American citizens; provide a tax exemption for employee health insurance benefits for domestic partners, similar to the tax exemption on health benefits given to employees’ married spouses; and grant access to Medicaid coverage for people with HIV who don’t have AIDS.

“We are trying to assess the best legislative strategy for moving these bills,” Stacy said. “But the key people who will be overseeing this in the administration are not in place yet,” which has prevented gay advocacy groups from finalizing their plans.

Stacy and Rea Carey, the Task Force’s executive director, said they believe the consensus among nearly all gay rights advocacy groups is to insist that Congress move forward with a version of ENDA that includes protections for transgender persons.

Gay and transgender activists became divided in 2007 when Democrats in the House of Representatives, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), decided to vote on a version of the bill that excluded transgender protections. The two lawmakers said they determined that there weren’t enough votes to pass a trans-inclusive bill and that keeping trans protections in the bill would result in its defeat.

The House passed a gay-only version of the bill that year, but the Senate never took up the measure. Capitol Hill observers have speculated that Senate leaders did not believe a trans-inclusive bill could clear the Senate and agreed to requests by gay and transgender activists to put the measure on hold until 2009.

Frank told the Blade last month that a coalition of gay and transgender rights groups have made “good progress” in building support for a trans-inclusive ENDA in the year since the House passed the gay-only version of the bill, and he’s hopeful that enough support could be lined up to pass a trans-inclusive version of the bill next year.

Obama said during his run for the White House that he, too, supports a trans-inclusive version of the bill.

“It’s exciting that we will have a president who not only won’t threaten to veto the bill but who embraces it,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Carey said the Task Force also would closely monitor the Obama administration’s proposed economic policies and related legislative proposals to make sure gay families aren’t excluded.

“We obviously have legislation we’ve been interested in passing for some time,” she said. “But we are part of a bigger picture of the challenges that are facing people in this country.

“The pocketbooks of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are also hurting.”

Carey said activists specializing in gay-related economic and tax issues have found that the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage in federal law as the union of one man and one woman, has forced a number of federal agencies to deny tax-related benefits to same-sex couples that are automatically available to opposite-sex married spouses.

But some activists, including gays who worked on Obama’s presidential campaign, have suggested that it would be prudent to hold off on pushing for repeal of DOMA and overturning “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” during Obama’s first year in office.

They point to how President Clinton’s decision to propose lifting the military’s ban on gay service members in the first months of his presidency in 1993 led to a groundswell of opposition in Congress and from within the military. Political observers say the blowup nearly crippled Clinton’s efforts to push other legislative measures through Congress that year and resulted in Congress forcing Clinton to agree to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

“The way you move forward is to get members of Congress to pass the first one or two bills,” Stacy said. “Then the next tier of bills that are more challenging to move forward can be addressed.”

Marriage rights?

Stacy and Carey acknowledged that missing from the list of gay-related bills that have been introduced in past years are efforts to provide federal marriage-related rights and benefits to same-sex couples joined by civil unions or domestic partnerships.

In explaining his opposition to same-sex marriage on religious grounds, Obama said during his presidential campaign that he supports providing same-sex couples with all of the rights and benefits that come with marriage. But he did not specify when or how he would achieve this as president.

Legal experts have said a federal-enabling law that recognizes civil unions or domestic partnerships performed by states would be necessary before the couples could receive the more than 1,000 federal rights and benefits that come with marriage.

Experts have also said that repealing DOMA would allow same-sex couples that marry in Massachusetts and Connecticut — the only two states that allow gay marriage — to receive federal rights and benefits of marriage.

But a DOMA repeal would not result in these rights and benefits automatically going to people in civil unions or domestic partnerships because the rights and benefits are restricted to those who are joined by federally recognized marriages, legal experts have said.

“The challenge of same-sex couple recognition is the complexity in its drafting,” Stacy said.

He and Carey said their respective groups would consider looking into an enabling law to provide full rights and benefits to same-sex couples who can’t marry, but they had no immediate plans for doing this.

Obama’s Civil Rights Plan

Read the full agenda:  http://change.gov/agenda/civil_rights_agenda