SATURDAY POLITICS: There are now 5 Openly Gay U.S. Ambassadors

Wally Brewster has been approved (unanimously) by the United States Senate as the new Ambassador to the Dominican Republic (my dream job, LOL). Brewster previously served as a board member of the Human Rights Campaign, which sent out a notice about Brewster's confirmation:

Prior to this year, three openly gay people had served as U.S. Ambassadors (Jim Hormel, Michael Guest and David Huebner).  Just this year, five openly gay people have been confirmed as Ambassadors (Brewster, along with John Berry in Australia, James Costos in Spain, Rufus Gifford in Denmark, and Daniel Baer as ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe). It is a testament to President Obama and the U.S. Senate that the sexual orientation of these ambassadors is irrelevant to their qualifications for their posts.  All Americans should be proud to have these fine public servants representing the interests of the United States.

Of course one might notice that all five LGBT individuals are white gay men, which is not indicative of the diversity of the LGBT community, but is representative of the people who get rewarded with ambassadorships through political appointments!

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Queer Quote: Australian PM Makes Marriage Equality Campaign Pledge

Tony Abbott (left) and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd 

Kevin Rudd is the current and former Prime Minister of Australia. He won back his old job recently when Prime Minister Julia Gillard was forced out by internal Labor Party politics heading into national elections, which are set for Saturday September 7th. Rudd debated Coalition Party head Tony Abbott in their first debate of the electoral campaign last night and although Rudd had previously opposed marriage equality, toward the end of the debate he made a campaign pledge to legalize marriage equality if his party wins the election.

Rudd's statement supporting marriage equality is today's Queer Quote:

Kevin Rudd said "[recognising same-sex relationships is] a mark of decency to same-sex couples across the country who wish the same loving, caring relationship that, for example, I have had with Therese my wife now for the last 32 years, and for that to be formalised."

His opponent declined to join him in endorsing marriage equality, despite the fact that he has an openly lesbian sister citing instead that the Australian federal parliament had voted down a measure to enact marriage equality last September. The conservative Coalition leader said that passing marriage equality would not be a priority for his government.

Regardless of what happens in the September 7 Australian election, the next ambassador to Australia from the United States is going to be openly gay John Berry.

Hat//tip  to Joe.My.God

OPM Memo on Federal Benefits to Same-Sex Married Couples

OPM Memo on Same-Sex Spousal benefits

John Berry, Highest Ranked Gay Federal Employee, Resigns

The highest ranked gay appointee of the Obama administration, John Berry, the head of the Office of Personnel Management (formerly known as the U.S. Civil Service Commission) has decided to leave his position, effective this week. Technically, Berry's term as head of the federal government's "human resources department" is four years and he started on April 13, 2009 but if he had wanted to stay another four years the President would have re-appointed him. Berry was head of the agency when the Obama administration announced it was extending some (mostly non-financial) benefits to domestic partners of federal employees.

The White House issued a statement about Berry's departure from OPM:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 12, 2013

Statement by the President on John Berry’s Departure

John Berry has served the American people well as Director of the Office of Personnel Management.  He’s streamlined the way federal employees are hired, modernized the workplace, made the federal workforce more diverse, and increased the number of returning servicemembers hired by the government.  John has been a champion for federal workers – men and women who devote their lives to vital tasks like securing our borders, curing disease, and keeping the American people safe.  This country is better off because of John’s talent and dedication, and I’m grateful to him for his service.

###

At OPM, Berry will be temporarily replaced by the openly lesbian General Counsel of the Agency, Elaine Kaplan. Kaplan is on Lias Keen's recently compiled list of the Top 12 LGBT Presidential Appointments by the Obama administration and has also been named to be the Chief Judge of the (obscure but important) U.S. Court of Federal Claims, a federal appellate court. Interestingly, Berry is being rumored to be on the top of the short list to be named Ambassador to Australia. LGBT activists had been pushing for the President to name an openly LGBT cabinet secretary, and it was hoped that Berry would be that name. With Berry's experience of running the National Zoo and the National Wildlife Commission, he was thought to be a serious contender for Secretary of the Interior Department.

Ambassador for Australia would be interesting, because the current Ambassador to New Zealand is an openly gay man, David Heubner. Both Australia and New Zealand are in the middle of national political conversations about enacting marriage equality, with New Zealand making much more progress towards legislative change than Australia. If other rumors are true, Berry and Heubner would not be the Obama administration's only openly gay ambassadors, since the President is also considering his 2012 campaign's openly gay fundraising chairman Rufus Gifford to be named Ambassador to Denmark. I think that's a pretty good reward for being responsible for raising $1 billion for Obama-Biden 2012, don't you?

It seems to me Rufus should get his pick of which country to go (within reason, of course, I'm sure there are sensitive geo-political concerns that have to be balanced). If you could be Ambassador to anywhere, where would you pick? I think I would pick Italy (probably taken), South Africa or the Netherlands. Iceland would be great, as well! Which country would you pick?

OPM: Federal Same-Sex DP Benefits Extend To Kids

Good news from the Obama Administration today! The Office of Personnel Management, basically the Human Resources Office for the entire nearly 2 million strong federal workforce, announced a federal regulation change today which would extend the popular aspect of the Affordable Care Act (more commonly known as ObamaCare) that allows children under 26 years old to be added to their parents' health plans to include federal employees in same-sex domestic partnerships.

The proposed rule isn’t expected to have a significant economic impact because it only adds additional groups to the list of groups eligible for coverage under the federal health care system. 

As part of the proposed rule change, federal health program regulations would be amended so that if a federal employee doesn’t establish that insuring their partner’s child qualifies for favorable tax treatment under applicable tax laws, the employee can be taxed on the fair market value of the coverage. As part of the process for seeking comments, OPM is specifically seeking input on how the fair market value might be calculated for different plans, including, for example, a high deductible health plan with a health reimbursement arrangement. 

The proposed rule change means the children of same-sex partners of federal employees would have access to benefits unavailable to the same-sex partners themselves. The Obama administration has said it cannot extend major benefits — health and pension benefits — to the same-sex partners of federal employees because of the Defense of Marriage Act. Legislation that would extend those benefits, called the Domestic Partnership Benefits & Obligations Act, was reported out of the Senate committee of jurisdiction in May, but hasn’t yet come to a floor vote.

This is excellent news! Congratulations to the Family Equality Council who had been working on this change for nearly a year to getting it announced and presumably enacted soon.

Conservative Federal Judge Strikes Down DOMA

Karen Golinksi legally married her partner Amy in 2008 and literally
 made a federal case of getting health benefits for her spouse

Wow! Clearly, the days for which the so-called Defense of Marriage Act will remain viable in the United States Code are numbered, and appears to be decreasing rapidly. Recall that two weeks ago the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Proposition 8. This week, a federal judge named Jeffrey White appointed by Republican president George W. Bush issued an opinion in Golinski v Office of Personnel Management in which he summarily strikes down Section 3 of DOMA as violating Karen Golinski's constitutional right to receive federal benefits based on her legal marriage to her wife Amy.

The case involves Karen Golinski, who married her longtime partner in California in 2008 when same-sex marriage was legal between June and November. She has been an employee of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for decades and so when she got married she asked that her employer put her spouse on her health benefits plan like her heterosexual co-workers have been able to do. As a federal employee, but of the Judicial Branch, her case raised a host of interesting constitutional issues. Chief Judge of the 9th Circuit, Alex Kosinski, twice issued orders to the Office of Personnel Management (in the Executive Branch) to process Golinski's request, which were ignored.

Golinski was represented by MadProfessah friend Tara Borelli of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and pro bono by Morrison Foster. Amazingly, the judge ruled based just on the briefing on motions  for summary judgment (from the good guys) and motion for dismissal (from the bad guys represented by Paul Clement and the House Republican majority led by Speaker John Boehner).

U.S. District Court Judge White's opinion is remarkable for many things, as Ari Ezra Waldman notes at TowleRoad:

First, Judge White declared that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation merits heightened scrutiny in an equal protection analysis. 

Second, the court distinguished old and outdated precedent that Judge Randy Smith recently used in his dissent in Perry v. Brown, highlighting the doctrinal vacuum that is denial of gay rights. 

Third, in dismantling the proffered and any conceivable justification for DOMA Section 3, the court authoritatively rejected House Republican attempts to buttress DOMA with recourse to certain conceptions of morality. 

Fourth, Judge White's reliance on the other DOMA cases and Ninth Circuit precedent in other gay rights cases emphasizes the primacy of a federal litigation approach in our quest for marriage recognition.

I encourage you to read the rest of Ari's insightful analysis as well as Chris Geidner's at Poliglot. What is not becoming remarkable is the sight of federal judges ruling that DOMA is unconstitutional. Judge White of the 9th Circuit follows Judge Joseph Tauro of the 1st Circuit who struck down DOMA in July 2010. The decision in Gill v. Office of Personnel Management is still on appeal before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Federal DP Bill Advances To US Senate Floor

According to HRC Backstory, the United States Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act, S.1102, (also known as DPBO) by a vote of 10-6 (8-1 official in-person vote) to the Senate floor, with five Republicans and Democrat David Pryor of Arkansas voting against the bill and Chairman Joe Lieberman ("Independent") and Ranking Member Susan Collins (Republican of Maine) voting in favor along with all the other Democrats on the committee.

The companion bill in the House which is sponsored by lesbian Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (Democrat of Wisconsin), H.R. 2517, is also pending on the floor of that body after having passed the House Committee on Oversight and Government Management on November 18th.

HRC sent out a press release lauding the Senate Committee action:

“Today’s markup in the Senate is an important step toward guaranteeing equal compensation for lesbian and gay workers serving our government at home and abroad,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “DPBO recognizes that equal pay for equal work is a value fundamental to American opportunity. We thank Chairman Lieberman for his leadership in ushering this important legislation through Congress.”

The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act (DPBO) was introduced in the 111th Congress by Chairman Lieberman and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) in the Senate and by Congresswomen Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) in the House. DPBO would provide the same family benefits to lesbian and gay federal civilian employees as are already provided to employees with different-sex spouses. To receive benefits, employees would have to submit an affidavit of eligibility for benefits with the Office of Personnel Management, certifying that the employee and domestic partner meet necessary criteria, as provided in the Act.

DPBO would bring employment practices in the federal government in line with those of America’s largest and most successful corporations. Nearly 60% of Fortune 500 companies provide domestic partner benefits to their employees. In addition, 23 states, the District of Columbia, and over 150 local governments make benefits available to public employees and their same-sex partners. A May 2000 poll conducted by the Associated Press found that a majority of Americans favor the extension of health insurance coverage to same-sex partners. In addition, this legislation has been endorsed by the American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Harvard University, National Treasury Employees Union and United Church of Christ.

Looks like DPBO will make it to the President's desk before ENDA. Oh my bad, I forgot, there's been no progress on LGBT rights in the Obama Administration because Barack Obama hates "teh gays." STFU!

Federal DP benefits Bill Passes House Committee

The White House Media Affairs Office just sent out a press release featuring John Berry, the openly gay head of the Office of Personnel Management, lauding the movement of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act:

OPM Director John Berry lauds passage of Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act through House Committee on Oversight and Government Management

Bill provides essential recruitment tool for the Federal government

Washington, DC – Earlier today, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Management approved H.R. 2517, the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009, sponsored by Representative Tammy Baldwin. The measure extends benefits to the domestic partners of Federal employees, including participation in the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) Program, retirement and survivor benefits, relocation reimbursements and other benefits currently offered to spouses of Federal employees. The Committee also adopted an amendment offered by Chairman Edolphus Towns that made changes to the legislation to ensure proper implementation.

“I want to commend the Committee for approving the Domestic Partnership Benefits Act,” said U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry. “This is an essential recruitment tool as we seek the best and the brightest to tackle the many challenges America faces.”

Berry also said: “This is a positive step that helps the federal government to better compete with other employers for top talent. President Obama has stated clearly that this is an issue of equality. But just as important, youth today, LGBT or not, see this benefit as a litmus test for determining high quality employers. The Administration looks forward to continuing its work with lawmakers as the House and the Senate move toward enactment of this bill.”

OPM oversees human resources and benefits policies for over 1.9 million Federal civil servants and 2.5 million retirees and survivor annuitants.

But I guess nothing positive is happening on LGBT rights in this Administration so we might as well as boycott them. Not.

Obama Administration To Announce (Some) Federal DP Benefts

What a difference a few days make! It was announced late on Tuesday that the Obama Administration will allow domestic partners of federal employees to receive some benefits, although apparently health benefits will not be included, due to the odious Defense of Marriage Act.

According to the New York Times:

Mr. Obama, in an Oval Office announcement, is expected to offer details about which benefits will be provided. It is the most significant statement he has made on gay issues, and it comes as he faces intense criticism from several gay rights leaders over what they suggest has been a failure to live up to campaign promises in the first months of his presidency.

Mr. Obama will be weighing in for the first time on one of the most delicate social and political issues of the day: whether the government must provide benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. While he will announce a list of benefits, officials said, they are not expected to include broad health insurance coverage, which could require legislation to achieve.

The initial reaction from some gay rights advocates was mixed.

“Extending benefits to partners of gay federal employees is terrific, but at this point he is under enormous pressure from the gay civil rights community for having promised the moon and done nothing so far,” Richard Socarides, an adviser to the Clinton administration on gay issues, said Tuesday evening. “So more important now is what he says tomorrow about the future for gay people during his presidency.”

Presumably, the President will announce his support for H.R. 2517/S. 1102, the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009, co-authored by Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis) which would extend health benefits to same-sex domestic partners of federal employees.

The gay blogosphere is all over the story, and many of them are not impressed. Many people are pointing out that this first announcement of an LGBT initiative is occurring after a furor has blown up over an LGBT Democratic National Committee fundraising event scheduled for next week started receiving high profile defections.

In Jeff Zeleny's article in the Times it is revealed that

"the timing of the announcement was intended to help contain the growing furor among gay rights groups. Several gay donors withdrew their sponsorship of a Democratic National Committee fund-raising event next week, where Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is scheduled to speak."

Emphasis added by Pam Spaulding over at The Blend. John Aravosis at AmericaBlog is one of the main sparks fanning the flames of the furor.

Excitin times, peeps!

Top Gay Explains Obama Actions On LGBT Issues

Lesbian reporter Kerry Eleveld interviewed OPM Director John Berry yesterday at an LGBT pride festival in Washington, D.C. and he gave this extended answer on behalf of the White House:

We have four broad legislative goals that we want to accomplish and legislation is one of these things where you've got to move when the opportunity strikes, so I'm going to list them in an order but it's not necessarily going to go one, two, three, four. Obviously, I think the first opportunity is hate crimes and we're hopeful that we can get that passed this week. We're going to try, but if not, we're going to keep at it until we get it passed. The second one ENDA, we want to secure that passage of ENDA, and third is we want to repeal legislatively "don't ask don't tell," and fourth, we want to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.

Now, I'm not going to pledge -- and nor is the president -- that this is going to be done by some certain date.

He also went on to discuss the controversy du jour, the DOJ brief defending DOMA:

Finally, I want to talk to you about the DOMA brief. Our strongest argument against “don’t ask, don’t tell” is that we stand with the truth. And that we, more than anyone, know the cost of lying and the terrible pain it invokes.

This president took a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and he does not get to decide and choose which laws he enforces. He has to enforce the laws that have been enacted appropriately and that he has inherited. It would be wrong for me or any of our community to advise him to lie or to shirk his responsibility. He’s doing his job. He has made clear that he stands for the repeal of DOMA. It will be part of this administration’s agenda to accomplish that act. We ought not waste energy and angst attacking him when we should be focusing the energy and effort on getting 218 votes in the house and 60 votes in the Senate, and that’s where we ought to target the energy and the strength of this community and this president is with us, this is our agenda and it’s his agenda.

I find it bizarre that the Obama White House thinks that it doesn't have the votes to pass legislation (DADT repeal and trans-inclusive ENDA) which has huge popular support.

However, what this John Berry interview reveals is that the White House strongly needs to hear the appeal by former Clinton adviser that they need to appoint a senior White House aide to deal with LGBT issues. It's not John Berry's job to be the mouthpiece for the Obama administration simply because he's the highest ranked openly gay Obama appointee. Berry is the head of the agency which manages the 1.9 million strong federal workforce. Someone else should be tasked with interfacing with "senior Administration officials" when LGBT issues arise.

Openly Gay Man Confirmed To Head OPM

John Berry was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate very early Friday morning to be the head of the agency in charge of the nearly 2-million strong workforce of the United States government. The Office of Personnel Management used to be the agency responsible for firing known homosexuals will now have an openly gay man at its helm.

From The Advocate's coverage:

“I will do my best to ensure that our policies are inclusive and fair for all,” Berry said. “That is something that I believe will produce benefit not only for LGBT people, but essentially for every community of interest, whether it be disability, African-Americans, Hispanics, Latinos -- all the communities that need to be represented at fairer levels in our government.

“We need to draw upon the strength and diversity of our nation,” he continued, “and we need to treat and accord fairly each and every one of them with benefits, and training, and with promotional opportunities that are second to none. I will strive to accomplish that for all Americans.”

Berry will take his oath and step into his new role on Monday, April 13. He said he plans to invite Frank Kameny -- a gay rights icon who was fired by the federal government for his sexual orientation in 1957 -- to his formal swearing-in ceremony, which has yet to be scheduled.

I am glad to see that despite the reluctance of either the nominee or the Administration to be out front acknowledging Berry's open homosexuality, the OPM Director seems perfectly willing to address LGBT issues in the federal workplace.