By Lisa Keen
The breezy confirmation hearing of openly gay Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry was a stark road-marker in LGBT community's journey toward equality.
Sixteen years ago, the U.S. Senate became embroiled in debate over whether to confirm President Bill Clinton's openly gay appointee Roberta Achtenberg to be assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development. It ultimately voted 58 to 31 (11 senators did not vote) to approve the nomination but not before Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) famously referred to Achtenberg on the floor of the chamber as "that damn lesbian."
The Washington Post described the atmosphere for Berry's confirmation appearance in front of a Senate committee March 26 as "jovial."
Berry, in his remarks to the committee, said the agency must appeal to the "broadest possible range of workers" to compensate for the loss of an aging workforce. Although nothing gay-specific came up during the hearing, Berry did, after introducing his sister and brother and their families, introduce "my partner, sir, from Honolulu, for past 12.5 years, Curtis Yee."
But one columnist questioned the meaning of why only two of the committee's 16 members showed up for the hearing.
"As is customary, M. John Berry introduced his family – his sister, his brother and his partner of 12 years, Curtis Yee," noted Joe Davidson, who writes the Post's "Federal Diary" column. "Refreshingly, having an openly gay person in a high government position is no longer a big deal, which is not to say homophobia is dead."
One did not have to look far for evidence to support that. On the Web site of Government Executive, which reports news of interest to "federal managers and executives," at least a few readers posted comments – under the veil of pseudonyms – that suggest homophobia is still breathing.
"He's gay, that's too bad," wrote a reader who identified as "ChristmasTree." He or she said things "will be worse for this agency if (Berry) tries to change the civil service to give people with this genetic deficiency preference over others. Mark my words, if confirmed he will!"
Another post-er, who blogged under the name "Straight, But Not Narrow," responded: "This is the same sad mind set that continues to exclude gays from the military, ignoring the fact that a number of those who have been dismissed have been in mission-critical areas (i.e., language translators). I think Steven Colbert was right when he said that 'the only thing that scares America worse then another terrorist attack is being saved from it by a gay hero.'" Colbert is a satirist on cable television's Comedy Central who mocks right-wing conservatives by pretending to be one.
Responding to generalized questions from Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Berry said it's important that the federal government "treat like employees similarly" and hire employees because they are qualified.
"I don't come into this with any ideological bent," said Berry.
A person who said he or she had worked with Berry at the National Zoo posted a comment on Government Executive vouching for Berry's sense of fairness.
"While he is openly gay," wrote "Inspired Leader," "I have never seen any employees feel like they must convert to being gay to please Mr. Berry. America needs to grow up and allow people to answer to God on the spiritual levels instead of on man's level. As long as Mr. Berry continues to make certain that government policy and procedures are adhered to, his lifestyle is his business."
Government policy and procedures are, however, changing and changeable. As Winnie Stachelberg and Josh Rosenthal point out in their essay, "Steps Toward Equality," at the Center for American Progress Web site: "He could use a number of much-needed reforms at OPM to attract and retain skilled employees, but the Center for American Progress hopes that Congress will give him an essential tool in this effort by passing the Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act."
Stachelberg and Rosenthal say the Domestic Partner bill seeks to authorize equal benefits for federal employees by providing the same benefits to the partners of gay employees as it does to the spouses of heterosexual married employees.
"Unfortunately, under the Bush administration, OPM leadership stood opposed to the act, without good reason," write Stachelberg and Rosenthal. At a hearing last year of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, which just hosted Berry's confirmation proceeding, former OPM Deputy Director Howard Weizmann, they said, "referred to the Adam Sandler film, 'I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry,' as primary evidence for his claim that domestic partnerships would have more capacity for benefit fraud than marriages."
Stachelberg and Rosenthal expressed confidence that Berry will reverse the OPM's "approach to domestic partnership benefits," noting that, within the Department of Interior, he was "a strong advocate for gay and lesbian employees, eliminating discriminatory policies in the National Park Service, and establishing a grievance procedure for Interior employees who faced discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation."
Berry comes to the position after having served as an assistant secretary for Policy, Management and Budget at the Department of Interior under the Clinton administration and, most recently, as director of the National Zoo, a small but much beloved institution in Washington, D.C.
As Director of OPM, Berry is the chief human resources director for the entire federal workforce.
Akaka said the Committee would vote in the "very near future" on Berry's confirmation. If confirmed by the committee and then the full Senate, Berry will become the highest-ranking openly gay appointee in history.
Other appointees
Meanwhile, the Obama administration has recently added a few more openly gay appointees to its list:
* Elaine Kaplan, as general counsel to OPM. Kaplan served as head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in the Clinton administration. During the Bush administration, she spoke out against the practices of her successor, Scott Bloch, who said federal civil service laws provided no protection to gay employees
* Emily Hewitt, to be chief judge of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Hewitt has served on the court after being confirmed by the Senate in 1998. The court hears cases in which citizens are suing the federal government for damages. A native of Baltimore, Md., she graduated from Harvard Law School and worked at a Boston law firm and was one of the first 11 women ordained to the Episcopal priesthood.
* Marisa Demeo, as an associate judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Because Washington, D.C. is a federal jurisdiction, and not a state, the president is able to make nominations to this relatively low level court. She was appointed as a magistrate judge in the Superior Court under President George W. Bush. A White House press release indicated she has worked for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the AIDS Service Center of Lower Manhattan and has taught at Howard University School of Law, in D.C.
* The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund announced this week that the Obama administration will appoint an open lesbian, Kathy Matinez, as assistant secretary for Disability Employment Policy at the Department of Labor. She was appointed by President Bush to serve on the National Council on Disability and currently serves as head of the World Institute on Disability.
Their nominations bring the number of openly LGBT people thus far appointed to positions by the Obama administration to 17.
