|
commentary
Beyond the Briefs
Obama’s cabinet another step out of the closet
Published Thursday, 11-Dec-2008 in issue 1094
President-elect Barack Obama’s choices for his cabinet are crucial to our community, because the executive branch of government has far more to do with our everyday rights than do the judicial and legislative branches.
Hillary Clinton as secretary of state is a welcome friend for gays and lesbians worldwide. Given Clinton’s support of GLBT rights in the U.S. Senate, she can be expected to condemn practices in other countries that deny us basic human rights. International human rights deeply concern us all, and Clinton will bring practices in countries such as Iran, where people are hanged for being gay, to the forefront of the world’s attention. Similarly, she will point to progressive countries, such as Canada, where we have full equality, as persuasive models for what the U.S. must do. This will further influence the U.S. Supreme Court, which already increasingly looks to world consensus in deciding upon legislation that affects us, such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, as well as hate crimes and marriage equality legislation.
Eric Holder, Obama’s pick for attorney general, is also likely to be an ally on our issues. He is literally the “holder” of gay civil rights for the next four years, and it’s highly probable that his first act will be to champion a federal law giving the U.S. attorney general the power to prosecute federal hate crimes in instances where the perpetrator has either crossed state lines or has used a tool of interstate commerce (the Internet, a car) to commit one.
Holder will also be influential in helping to select federal judges. (During the last eight years, the right wing used the attorney general’s office to screen out pro-gay judges.) He’ll also be responsible for hiring 94 local U.S. attorneys, attorneys who can shape policy in amazing ways. For example, a local U.S. attorney could decide to prosecute groups that work to deny rights to gays and lesbians.
Further, he is likely to opine that states must issue federal benefits to children of same-sex couples, at least to the extent that state laws recognize domestic partnerships and civil unions. (Ideally, he would go even further and hold that the Defense of Marriage Act, which allows states and the federal government to refuse recognition of same-sex marriage, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.)
Obama’s choices for his cabinet are crucial to our community. Obama’s choice of Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security is significant for us too.
Napolitano, the current governor of Arizona, is supportive of gay rights and, as secretary of homeland security, can instruct her immigration staff to grant asylum to gay and lesbian refugees who flee persecution in their native countries.
Former Attorney General Janet Reno initiated this concept, but right-wing immigration attorneys in the Bush administration argued to send GLBT people seeking asylum back to their countries of origin, as long as there were remote places where they could hide. (Imagine sending Jews back to Nazi Germany to live in the hills!)
Napolitano will also have the power to remove the homophobic immigration judges DHS hired under Bush, and this will affect other areas of immigration law too. For instance, it will affect whether we can bring our spouses to the U.S., as straights can, without fear they will be sent back.
Other of Obama’s picks for cabinet may also have a significant affect on the GLBT community, especially in terms of the visibility they bring to it. If Mary Beth Maxwell, for instance, becomes labor secretary, she will be the first openly lesbian cabinet member in history.
Bill
says:
Should not protection from terrorism be a greater priority? Based on participation in "Day without a gay" there are not very many to be concerned with.
Dec 11, 2008 7:35 PM
Tom
says:
Bill is right. Protection from terrorism is very important. We should start with the domestic terrorists at home first. The ones who use religion to justify violence against us. The ones who seek to take away our civil rights. The religious extremists who attack us here are a far more immediate threat than the ones overseas. We need to defeat them here first, then we can worry about the ones over there.
Dec 12, 2008 0:10 AM
charles pratt
says:
As Thomas Jefferson observed: "the man who chooses security over freedom deserves neither." Reader Bill continues the sorry propagandizing and homophobia of the current administration by intentionally misrepresenting just what Rob has written. The commentary usefully and properly informs about these nominees' political positions of concern to our community. In my view, upholding the Constitution and protecting minority rights provides an indispensable form of security.
Dec 12, 2008 6:33 AM
This story is now closed for comments. Commenting is available only on stories in the current week's issue. |
Feed updated every Thursday
|
Subscribe via RSSCopyright © 2003-2009 Uptown Publications
