Category Archives: Denis Dison

Does Obama’s Cabinet lack diversity?

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says Obama values LGBT status as a element of diversity (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney declined to comment Tuesday on media reports indicating President Obama won’t appoint an openly LGBT person as part of his second-term Cabinet, but maintained sexual orientation and gender identity are “absolutely” elements of diversity the president values at the highest levels of the administration.

“I certainly am not confirming any speculation in the press about possible announcements the president might make,” Carney said under questioning from the Washington Blade. “I would refer you, again, to what I said and what the president has said about the value he places on diversity, and encourage you to assess the diversity of his appointments once they’ve all been made.”

According to media reports, Obama is close to making nominations for two vacancies in his Cabinet. His reported choice for labor secretary is Thomas Perez, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. The president is also reportedly poised to nominate as commerce secretary Penny Pritzker, a Chicago hotel mogul and finance chair for his presidential campaign.

LGBT advocates had asked Obama to make the first-ever openly LGBT Cabinet appointment in history. If Obama makes his nominations in accordance with those reports, LGBT advocates will have to wait for another vacancy for that to happen.

Gay California Assembly Speaker John Perez was reportedly on the short list for labor secretary. In December, an administration official told the Blade that Fred Hochberg, who’s gay and chair of the Export-Import Bank, was being looked at for the role of commerce secretary.

The questioning from the Blade came after inquiries from American Urban Radio’s April Ryan about a letter from Congressional Black Caucus Chair Marsha Fudge (D-Ohio) saying Obama has an insufficient number of black appointees in his Cabinet. In response to that question, Carney said Obama is “deeply committed to diversity in his Cabinet.”

“He believes that having a diverse Cabinet and a diverse set of advisers enhances the decision-making and deliberation process for him and for any president,” Carney said. “And so he values it greatly and that’s why he has pursued it both in his first term and continues to pursue it in his second term.”

Denis Dison, spokesperson for the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, affirmed that Obama should consider sexual orientation and gender identity when making decisions about diversity in his administration and reiterated the call to appoint an openly LGBT Cabinet official.

“Sexual orientation and gender identity should absolutely be considered when the goal is diversity,” Dison said. “President Obama has appointed more openly LGBT Americans to his administration than all previous presidents combined, but nobody from the LGBT community has ever served in the Cabinet. We hope this president takes the historic opportunity to destroy that glass ceiling once and for all.”

It should be noted that Thomas Perez has a strong record on LGBT issues at the Justice Department. In 2009, Perez testified before the Senate on behalf of the administration in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. He’s also overseen the implementation and execution of the hate crimes protections law signed by Obama in 2009.

Additionally, Perez has spoken out against anti-gay bullying and had a role in the settlement that the Obama administration reached with Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota over anti-gay school bullying.

A partial transcript of the exchange between Carney and the Blade follows:

Washington Blade: I just want to follow up on April’s questioning there. There are new reports that the President is close to making his nominees for the labor and commerce secretary. There was a lot of hope within the LGBT community that the President would take the opportunity with those vacancies to appoint the first-ever LGBT Cabinet member. But it looks like it’s not going to happen now. And you just mentioned how the President values diversity, and I’m just wondering if that excludes LGBT people. Does the President not believe that sexual orientation and gender identity are elements of diversity that you want to see at the highest levels of the administration?

Jay Carney: Again, Chris, I have no personnel announcements to make. I certainly am not confirming any speculation in the press about possible announcements the President might make. I would refer you, again, to what I said and what the President has said about the value he places on diversity, and encourage you to assess the diversity of his appointments once they’ve all been made.

Blade: But is sexual orientation –

Carney: Again, I think — I don’t have any — you’re asking me to make a statement about appointments that haven’t been made and I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to get ahead of the president.

Blade: But I’m asking you to make a statement on value.

Carney: The President values diversity.

Blade: And is sexual orientation and gender identity part of that diversity?

Carney: Absolutely. And the president values diversity.

Gay mayoral candidate murdered in Mississippi

Marco McMillan, gay news, Washington Blade

Marco McMillan (Photo courtesy of Facebook)

The motive for the murder of an openly gay candidate for mayor of the City of Clarksdale, Miss., and the exact cause of his death remained unclear on Friday, one day after sheriff’s deputies charged a 22-year-old man with the candidate’s slaying.

The Sheriff’s Office said the body of Marco McMillian, 34, one of four candidates running in the May 7 Democratic primary for mayor, was found Wednesday on an earthen levee next to the Mississippi River just outside of Clarksdale.

Although Sheriff’s Office officials said the motive for the murder was unclear, they said there was no evidence to indicate the incident was a hate crime or politically motivated.

The body was found one day after Lawrence Reed, the man arrested for the murder, was inside McMillian’s sports utility vehicle when it became involved in a head-on collision with another vehicle at a location miles away from where McMillian’s body was found, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office said.

McMillian was not in the vehicle at the time of the collision. Authorities have not said whether they learned how Reed happened to be in the vehicle at the time of the accident or whether Reed and McMillian knew each other.

Lawrence Reed. (Photo courtesy Coahoma County Miss. Sheriff’s Office)

At the time they arrested Reed, the Sheriff’s Office also declined to disclose whether it was Reed or someone else who was driving the SUV at the time of the collision.

An emergency medical team airlifted Reed to a nearby hospital for treatment, the sheriff’s spokesperson, Will Rooker, said. The discovery that the SUV belonged to McMillian prompted the Sheriff’s Office to begin a search to find the candidate, whose campaign supporters said he failed to show up for a scheduled campaign meeting.

“We’re just all devastated over his loss,” said Jarod Keith, McMillian’s campaign spokesperson.

Keith told the Blade that although McMillian was viewed as an underdog in the race, he was considered a viable candidate who had a shot at winning.

“We had double the number of Facebook friends the other candidates had,” Keith said. “He would have been a great mayor.”

Clarksdale, which has a population of about 18,000, is a majority black city with an overwhelming majority of voters who are registered as Democrats. No Republican filed to run in the mayoral election.

An independent candidate entered the race and was expected to be on the ballot for the general election, which is scheduled for June 4.

McMillian was a Democrat with ties to Democratic Party activists in other parts of the country. His Facebook campaign page includes photos of him with former President Bill Clinton and then-Sen. Barack Obama.

He was competing against three other Democrats in the May primary, including Chuck Espy, the son of incumbent Mayor Henry Espy, who announced he was not running for re-election.

Henry Espy became Clarksdale’s first black mayor when he first won election to the post in 1989. Except for a four-year hiatus in the 1990s, Henry Espy has served as the city’s mayor since 1989, making it clear that the barrier of electing a black person as mayor of the Mississippi delta city had long been broken.

Keith said McMillian had hoped to break another barrier by becoming Mississippi’s first openly gay elected official. Although his sexual orientation was known to Clarksdale’s political establishment and the media, Keith said his campaign focused on McMillian’s vision for lifting the economy and quality of life for a community faced with poverty and a crime rate far higher than the national average.

Denis Dison, a spokesperson for the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a national group that provides financial and logistical support for LGBT candidates for public office, said McMillian attended the Victory Fund’s annual LGBT Leadership Conference last November, where he promoted his candidacy.

McMillian served for four years as executive director of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., an internationally known black fraternity. He most recently served as CEO of MWM & Associates, a consulting firm for non-profit organizations. A biography on his website says he worked in the past at Alabama A&M University and Jackson State University.

Still waiting for first LGBT Cabinet appointment

California Assembly Speaker John A. Perez is set to be in contention as labor secretary, but are LGBT groups pushing for his nomination? (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

President Obama is facing a flurry of requests to take administrative action on behalf of the LGBT community at the onset of his second term. One call that has so far been ignored is for the appointment of an openly LGBT Cabinet member.

In recent months, LGBT groups — such as the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund — have said the appointment of an openly LGBT Cabinet member is important because it would provide visibility to the community and break a key remaining glass ceiling. No president has ever appointed an openly LGBT Cabinet member.

In November, Fred Sainz, HRC’s vice president of communications, told the Washington Blade the LGBT community is “rightly interested” in a Cabinet appointment as well as a G-20 ambassadorship.

But in comparison to other requests, such as participation in the lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court against California’s Proposition 8 or an executive order barring anti-LGBT workplace discrimination among federal contractors, the issue of appointing an LGBT Cabinet member hasn’t yet received significant attention.

Richard Socarides, a gay New York-based advocate and proponent of an LGBT Cabinet appointment, said he couldn’t say whether action from advocacy groups on the appointment is sufficient because he doesn’t know what’s happening behind the scenes, but acknowledged the public pressure is “rather muted.”

“I think that right now the organized political gay community in Washington has a very strong connection with, and relationship with the president, and he has delivered for us in many ways,” Socarides said. “So I think that there is, no doubt, a reluctance to rock the boat for the most part.”

Jim Burroway, a gay editor of the Tuczon, Ariz.-based blog Box Turtle Bulletin, said he hasn’t given the issue the “thought it deserves,” but acknowledged the importance of pushing for high-profile LGBT appointments.

“I’m always reluctant to say that this appointment or that appointment needs to be an LGBT person, but in the general scheme of things, it’s certainly time that an appointment somewhere reflects the diversity of the nation, or even of corporate America, when it comes to LGBT inclusion,” Burroway said.

HRC and the Victory Fund had no comment last month when Obama selected Sally Jewell, a Washington State-based businessperson, for the role of interior secretary, even though that selection meant John Berry, the gay head of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, didn’t get the job. Although Berry was passed over, Jewell is a known advocate of the LGBT community and helped drive business support for marriage equality when it was on the ballot last year in her state.

Media speculation that Berry would be tapped to head the Interior Department was widespread because of his close ties to the administration and his background as a lower-level official in the department during the Clinton years and service as head of the National Wildlife Federation and National Zoo.

Comparatively, LGBT groups like HRC and OutServe-SLDN were aggressive in calling on Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to extend the available benefits to gay troops with same-sex partners, which ultimately led to the Pentagon taking action.

Michael Cole-Schwartz, an HRC spokesperson, said in response to the comparative silence that HRC has “been clear from the start” that it would like high-profile LGBT appointments during Obama’s second term.

“We have not called for any specific position to be filled by any specific individual and it is not our intent to comment on every personnel decision,” Cole-Schwartz said. “As the president continues to make nominations in his second term, there remains an abundance of exceptional LGBT Americans willing and able to serve and it is our hope that we will see an openly gay Cabinet secretary and other historic appointments.”

Denis Dison, a Victory Fund spokesperson, touted the success of the Presidential Appointments Project in response to a similar inquiry. The Project has helped facilitate the appointment of at least 260 openly LGBT officials within the Obama administration.

“The Project continues to advocate for qualified, experienced openly LGBT individuals who are capable of becoming leaders at all levels of government, including at the Cabinet level,” Dison said. “Because personnel decisions are by their nature sensitive, we believe our advocacy is best done privately.”

Even though the position of interior secretary will be off the table once Jewell receives Senate confirmation, other positions are open in the Cabinet that are possibilities for LGBT appointments.

One that has sparked media attention recently is the potential appointment of gay California Assembly Speaker John Perez as a replacement for Hilda Solis as labor secretary.

John O’Connor, executive director of Equality California, said Perez would be an excellent choice as labor secretary because he’s a champion of both LGBT people and the working class.

“Perez has built bridges between the LGBT community and labor,” O’Connor said. “Given his legacy of accomplishment in our state, we are incredibly supportive of his candidacy and would be so proud to see it happen.”

Fred Hochberg, the gay head of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, has been viewed as a potential candidate for the role of commerce secretary. In December, an administration official told the Blade the White House is “looking carefully” at Hochberg for the position. However, he may have been passed over as well if media reports are correct that Obama is close to nominating banker Penny Pritzker for the role.

Shin Inouye, a White House spokesperson, said in response to a Blade inquiry on whether the administration values sexual orientation and gender identity as an element of diversity in high-profile appointments that he has “no personnel announcements.”

Frank seeks appointment as interim U.S. senator

Rep. Barney Frank is actively seeking an interim appointment as a U.S. senator (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Former Rep. Barney Frank expressed interest in an interim appointment as a U.S. senator. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Gay former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who retired after his last term as a U.S. House member on Wednesday, publicly expressed interest in the position of interim U.S. senator on Friday during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and said he’s spoken to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick about the role.

“I’ve told the governor that I would now like frankly to do that because I would like to be a part of that,” Frank said. “It’s only a three-month period; I wouldn’t want to do anything more. I don’t want to run again.”

Frank noted during the interview that two weeks ago he said he wasn’t interested in the position because it was “kind of like you’re about to graduate, and they said ‘You have to go to summer school,’” but has since changed his mind.

The opportunity for the interim appointment has come up in the wake of President Obama’s announcement that he’ll nominate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) as secretary of state. Under Massachusetts law, Patrick will have to select an interim replacement for Kerry, and between 145 and 160 days after Kerry steps down a special election must be held to find a permanent replacement.

Last week, Frank told Politico that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of accepting the appointment, saying his answer to whether he wants the job was “not a ‘no’ or a ‘yes.’”

In a later interview with the Boston Globe, Frank expanded on his reasons for seeking the position, saying he wants to take part in the talks to stave off major budget cuts to federal programs now that the sequester under the “fiscal cliff” deal has been pushed off two months.

“The first months of the new Senate will be among the most important in American history,” Frank was quoted as saying. “I may be a little immodest, but I called the governor and said I think I can be a help in reaching a fair solution to some of these issues.”

Frank reportedly continued, “I think there are progressive ways to work on Social Security and Medicare. I think making the case against [Tea Party Republicans] on the debt limit is important. A split emerged in the Republican Party over the fiscal cliff, with mainstream Republicans splitting with the radical right. I think it’s important for us to continue to exploit that. We need to reach out to conservative Republicans who nonetheless are willing to compromise, and find a way to reach a deal.”

The Washington Blade reported earlier this week that the cuts under the sequester could impact federal programs relevant to LGBT people and people with HIV/AIDS, potentially placing as many as 12,000 people on the waiting list for assistance under AIDS Drug Assistance Programs.

Patrick hasn’t yet indicated whom he’ll designate for the position. Other names that have emerged in media reports are Vicky Kennedy, the wife of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, and former Democratic presidential nominee and former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. A Patrick aide said the governor hasn’t made a decision yet.

Denis Dison, a spokesperson for the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, said Frank’s experience as a U.S. House member would make him well-qualified for the position of U.S. senator as Congress approaches budget cuts.

“As a former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, few people understand better the complexities facing federal lawmakers in the coming months,” Dison said. “Beyond the history-making nature of such an appointment, it would serve the people of Massachusetts well to have someone with his experience and knowledge working on these very tough issues as they choose their next senator.”

If Frank is appointed the role, he would join Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) in the U.S. Senate and would become the second openly gay lawmaker to serve in that chamber.

Frank’s new interest in the role marks a change from the viewpoint he expressed to the the Blade on Monday during an interview in previously unpublished comments.

Asked about his previous comments in Politico, Frank replied, “The only way to deal with that is to ignore it. Ignore the question. Talk about being in awkward situation. I am ignoring that.”

Pressed on whether he had any conversations with Patrick by that time, Frank offered more details and said he was ready to leave Congress.

“I have not had any conversations with the governor,” Frank said. “There’s a couple who’ve said, ‘Gee, you should be a senator. Want me to tell the governor?’ I said, ‘Please do not do that.’ I don’t want anyone doing that. I’m ready to get out of here, and my mind is set for that.”

Frank’s interest in becoming a U.S. senator is noteworthy because he’s come out in opposition to the potential nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel as defense secretary based on the former senator’s 1998 anti-gay remarks against James Hormel and his anti-gay voting record. If appointed as a senator, Frank would be in a position to vote against confirming Hagel.

Kerry nomination excites int’l LGBT advocates

Sen. John Kerry has been tapped to become the next secretary of state (photo public domain)

The nomination of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) as secretary of state has excited advocates on global LGBT issues.

On Friday, President Obama formally announced he would nominate Kerry to serve as secretary of state. Noting Kerry’s service as a Vietnam veteran and chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, Obama said, “In a sense, John’s entire life has prepared him for this role.”

“Over these many years, John has earned the respect and confidence of leaders around the world,” Obama said. “He is not going to need a lot of on-the-job training. He has earned the respect and trust of his Senate colleagues, Democrats and Republicans. I think it’s fair to say that few individuals know as many presidents and prime ministers, or grasp our foreign policies as firmly as John Kerry.”

But Kerry is also receiving praise for his work on LGBT issues as a U.S. senator. During his tenure as a senator, Kerry has been a supporter of LGBT issues and earned perfect rating of “100″ on the Human Rights Campaign’s most recent congressional scorecard.

In the previous Congress, Kerry voted for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal and hate crimes protection legislation. That support goes back to 1996, when Kerry was among 14 senators to cast a vote against the Defense of Marriage Act. He’s also been a key voice in encouraging the Obama administration to take additional action to protect bi-national same-sex couples and ending the ban preventing gay and bisexual men from donating blood.

In 2004, Kerry’s LGBT support wasn’t as strong on the issue of marriage as he pursued his run as the Democratic presidential nominee. As President George W. Bush campaigned on the Federal Marriage Amendment, Kerry would uncomfortably respond that he believes marriage is one man, one woman, but didn’t cast a vote when the FMA came up for a vote that year. He also came out in support of the state constitutional amendments in Missouri and Massachusetts banning same-sex marriage.

That changed after his presidential bid as the nation became more accepting of marriage equality. Kerry voted against the amendment in 2006 and has since come out for same-sex marriage. Just this year, he called for the inclusion of marriage-equality plank in the 2012 Democratic Party platform.

Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, commended Obama’s decision to nominate Kerry in statement while recognizing the senator’s previous work on LGBT issues.

“Sen. Kerry has been a trailblazer in the fight for LGBT equality, both domestically and internationally,” Griffin said. “His leadership in repealing the HIV travel ban, as well as his steadfast support for employment non-discrimination protections and addressing the needs LGBT homeless youth demonstrate his dedication to equality and to the rights of LGBT people worldwide.”

Kerry is nominated for the role as secretary of state at a time when LGBT human rights abuses overseas has received heightened attention. Efforts in Uganda to pass an anti-gay bill that would institute a penalty of life imprisonment — and perhaps even death — have worried LGBT advocates across the globe. In Russia, the lower chamber of parliament is set to consider legislation that would impose fines on the spread of pro-LGBT information to minors.

And just last week in Cameroon, an appeals court upheld a three-year jail sentence against Jean-Claude Roger Mbede, a man found guilty of homosexual conduct after he sent a text message to another man saying, “I’m very much in love with you.”

Andre Banks, executive director of All Out, a grassroots organization for international LGBT rights, called on Kerry to continue work already being done at the State Department against LGBT human rights abuses overseas.

“All Out encourages Senator Kerry to continue the State Department’s advocacy for LGBT people around the world, both publicly and through quiet diplomacy,” Banks said. “There are 76 countries where it is a crime to be LGBT, and 10 that carry life in prison or the death penalty. The U.S. must be a strong voice for decriminalization around the world.”

Upon confirmation, Kerry’s work on LGBT issues at the State Department will have to follow the often-praised work by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Her LGBT accomplishments include providing global benefits to LGBT employees and diplomats representing the country overseas. However, she’s among a few high-profile Democrats who hasn’t publicly endorsed marriage equality.

Perhaps Clinton’s most high-profile pro-LGBT act was speaking to the United Nations in Geneva last year against LGBT human rights abuses, telling LGBT people across the globe who feel isolated in their countries, “You have an ally in the United States of America and you have millions of friends among the American people.”

Mark Bromley, chair of the Council for Global Equality, said Kerry has been exemplary on LGBT issues as a U.S. senator and expects him to continue Clinton’s work.

“Sen. Kerry has been a strong defender of equality for LGBT citizens in this country, and a strong supporter of human rights abroad, so we certainly expect that he will continue to advance Secretary Clinton’s legacy of support for LGBT communities globally,” Bromley said.

Will Frank serve as interim U.S. senator?

But the Kerry nomination is also noteworthy for the LGBT community because it creates the opportunity for Gov. Deval Patrick to appointment as a temporary replacement a high-profile LGBT lawmaker: retiring Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).

In a brief interview with Politico on Thursday, Frank, who’s set to retire from Congress at the end of this year, wouldn’t rule out the possibility of accepting the appointment, although he said he hasn’t received an offer from Patrick.

“The governor ought to be free to make whatever choices he makes,” Frank was quoted as saying. “In Massachusetts, you’re talking about an interim, not a permanent appointment. I certainly would not take on any long-term appointment. As for an interim thing, I think accepting offers that haven’t been made is kind of presumptuous.”

Asked to clarify, Frank reportedly said his answer was “not a ‘no’ or a ‘yes.’ Rejecting an offer that hasn’t been made is also presumptuous.”

After the Senate confirms Kerry, Patrick must appoint an interim replacement. A special election must be held in Massachusetts between 145 and 160 days later, and the winner of that election would retain the seat until 2014. Besides Frank, another name that’s been floated as possible interim choice is Vicki Kennedy, the spouse of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.

On Friday, Patrick said during a news conference he’ll move quickly to fill the seat upon Kerry’s confirmation, but wouldn’t confirm any names that he’s considering.

Lesbian Senator-elect Tammy Baldwin is set to be sworn in on Jan. 3, It’s possible Baldwin and Frank, who’ve served together as U.S. House members, could also alongside each other in the Senate.

Denis Dison, spokesperson for the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, said the selection of Frank as an interim senator would well serve Massachusetts — provided Frank is interested in the role.

“I would say if he is offered it and he wants it, very few people would be more qualified to represent Massachusetts in the Senate,” Dison said. “Even on a temporary basis, it would be kind of neat capstone to a pretty remarkable career in public service.”

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