So are we ready for a LGBT cabinet member?

[dsc]

First the openings. Commerce, Treasury, Defense are for sure openings. Maybe AG. For Commerce there are several possibilities. The current CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, is openly gay. Mitchel Gold, who runs a very labor friendly furniture manufacturing business is also openly gay. Fred Hochberg, current head of the export import bank, is openly gay. Any of those would make great Commerce Secretaries. For Treasury, Barney Frank would be great. He is both a liberal and an expert on these matters. The question is, would he take the appointment? I think for a few years he would. Defense is tougher. Frank has great views but no experience so he is a non starter. Frankly, I can't think of anyone who we could put there who is openly gay.

[donheld]

1. What kind of a question is that?

Of course we're ready.

[Taverner]

19. I think the OP worded it wrong

[arthritisR_US]

2. You do know Barney Frank has resigned...

of course they are ready, they have been for years. Where have you been?

[dsc]

5. He chose not to run for Congress again

that isn't the same as not wanting a cabinet office. I will admit, he does sound like he is looking forward to private life though.

[arthritisR_US]

14. Not running for office means he has resigned

any further cabinet membership.

[Bluenorthwest]

20. What office is Hagle running for?

None.

[arthritisR_US]

26. Quite true, but Hagel has been out of office for some time and has expressed interest whereas

from every interview I have seen with Barney he is looking for a rest.

[Capt. Obvious]

24. Cabinet - not comittee

[dsc]

27. No

in point of fact Kerry is resigning his Senate seat to become SOS. Frank had his congressional district changed drastically in redistricting and that was part of the reason he decided not to run.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

22. So, Mr Frank is available to be Secretary of Defense

I think that would be a great pick.

[brooklynite]

3. Do you actually know what the sexual preference of any Cabinet member is?

Or do you just "assume" they're all hetero?

[dsc]

6. I know they aren't openly gay

which is what I said.

[brooklynite]

12. They're not openly anything...

Why is knowing the sexual preference of the Secretary of Transportation, or Agriculture, or Commerce important?

[dsc]

13. for the same reason that knowing FDR's Sec of Labor was a woman was important

for the same reason knowing that Thurgood Marshall was black was important.

[arthritisR_US]

15. Just why was such knowledge important for

those individuals you have mentioned?

[dsc]

17. not for them

but for black kids and girls growing up and seeing what blacks and women can do.

[arthritisR_US]

18. Oh ok, I see what you are getting at. n/m

[Bluenorthwest]

21. That last line of the OP should help some add up two and two and get why it is important...

The OP can not think of an openly gay person suited for DOD. Why is that? Well because until last year, military people HAD to be closeted for their entire professional lives. Thus, there are no potential nominees, no one I want to see promoted to other positions and no one to stand as role model to gay youth who might have an interest in military service or civilian participation in the DOD. If it is so very unimportant, as some straight folks like to suggest, then why did straight folks have actual laws for actual generations saying 'If we know you get jail'? Why indeed was the 'compromise' we lived with for years all about 'Don't tell'? Answer me that, as a representative of the 'why do you think it is important' straights. Who made it important? Straight people who claimed that it had to be illegal, then illegal to admit it. Our military had a law saying 'just don't be open'.

[Honeycombe8]

4. Acting Sec of Commerce Rebecca Blank?

Possibly gay?

Shaun L.S. Donovan, Sec of HUD? Possibly gay?

Janet Napolitano, Sec of Homeland Security?

Then there are members of the staff whose positions are cabinet level. But I got tired of looking up bios.

[dsc]

7. Donovan is married to a woman

and neither are openly gay.

[Nye Bevan]

8. If I was Obama, I would simply pick whoever I thought best for the job.

Their personal life is irrelevant.

[Capt. Obvious]

25. He might have binders full of gay people to choose from

[Hekate]

9. What does it take to be "openly gay" these days?

Such as:

Everybody in the office knows but you never exactly announced it
You bring your SO to the company picnic, but never put it in the company newsletter
You hold a high-level non-elected office but just keep your private life private without lying

Or do you have to give an interview on national television in which you announce your LGBT-ness, introduce your partner, and submit to many questions about how you feel about it?

I'm just curious, because while it is nice to set a good example, it is also nice not to be the designated token representative.

[dsc]

10. I would think at the very least

if the person has a spouse (of the same sex) that spouse would be at the hearings and swearing in as opposite sex spouses typically are. Given the fact that these are political people we are talking about (for the most part) and given the fact that we don't have our legal rights yet, it would seem that there would be a decent amount of involvement in lgbt causes.

[Hekate]

11. Thanks for your take on it

[arthritisR_US]

16. You have so much to teach me, I am learning

slowly but surely. Always a pleasure to read and follow your example

[Remmah2]

23. Should it matter?

They were elected to do a job based on qualifications.

[Capt. Obvious]

28. Romney had a similar reason

for lack of women in his cabinet

[Remmah2]

29. The old boys network.

aka SSDD.