President Barack Obama has appointed
more openly gay staffers than the administrations of George W. Bush
and Bill Clinton combined.
Shin Inouye, a White House spokesman,
noted the landmark during a panel discussion on LGBT presidential
appointees at the National Press Club sponsored by the National Gay &
Lesbian Journalist Association and gay weekly the Washington
Blade.
The panel also included Elaine Kaplan,
general counsel at the Office of Personnel Management, and Matt
Nosanchuk, senior counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for
Civil Rights.
Kaplan, who also served in the Clinton
administration, said LGBT appointments were present in greater
numbers and at higher levels than previous administrations. Policy
decisions are more gay-inclusive as a result, the panelists said.
The Presidential
Appointments Project, a community driven effort coordinated by
the Gay &
Lesbian Victory Fund, was responsible for bringing many of the
appointees to the attention of administration officials.
“This has always been the point of
the project – to make sure LGBT voices and their perspectives are
heard at the highest levels of the U.S. government,” George Walker,
a vice president at the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute, said.