Openly lesbian Georgetown University
Law Professor Chai Feldblum is among the 15 administration nominees
appointed Saturday by President Barack Obama in his first recess
appointments since taking office. Feldblum has been appointed to be
a commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
A key Senate committee voted in favor
of Feldblum's nomination in December, four months after being
nominated by Obama, but Republicans have since blocked a full Senate
vote.
In making the announcement, Obama said
he was bypassing the Senate, which is responsible for approving
hundreds of nominations, because of Republican obstruction.
“If, in the interest of scoring
political points, Republicans in the Senate refuse to exercise that
responsibility, I must act in the interest of the American people and
exercise my authority to fill these positions on an interim basis,”
Obama said in a statement. “Most of the men and women whose
appointments I am announcing today were approved by Senate committees
months ago, yet still await a vote of the Senate.”
“I simply cannot allow partisan
politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government,”
he added.
The White House said Obama's 217
nominees pending before the Senate have waited an average of 101
days. The 15 nominees, the White House said, have been pending for
an average of 7 months.
Feldblum is considered a national
scholar on transgender rights, disability issues and the gay rights
movement.
In January, Denis Dison, vice president
of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, a group that promotes openly
gay elected officials, told On Top Magazine that the Obama
administration is on track to setting a new record on appointing
openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender officials.
“Obama has appointed about 100 openly
LGBT staff to the executive branch in his first year in office,”
Dison said in an email. “[President] Clinton appointed about 140
over 8 years.”
“Obama is certainly on track to set a
record in this regard,” he added.
Dison cheered Feldblum's appointment in
an email: “We're very happy she will finally be able to serve on
the EEOC, and proud that she is the first openly LGBT EEOC
commissioner. Few people are as qualified for this job as Chai
Feldblum.”
Social conservatives, however, have
decried the appointment, labeling Feldblum a “radical.”