Some good news posted in GD-P...

[NYC_SKP]

(Original Post by jefferson_dem)

Obama's New Gay Rights Crusader



President Obama has just made John Berry, the current director of the National Zoo, the highest-ranking openly gay appointee ever by tapping him to head the Office of Personnel Management (pending Congressional approval). As an assistant secretary at the Interior department under President Clinton, Berry fought to end a wide range of discriminatory policies, including background checks for gay and lesbian applicants for National Park Service law enforcement jobs, and worked to set up a grievance process for employees who were harassed because of their sexual orientation.

The Office of Personnel Management might not seem like a bully pulpit for a gay rights advocate like Berry. But, unlike workers at more than half of the Fortune 500 companies, the 1.8 million employees who fill the ranks of the federal government don't have domestic partnership benefits. Their partners can't participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, a plan that's been considered a potential model for health care reform. They can't benefit from retirement programs. And if gay federal employees move for work, their partners can't benefit from relocation programs.

Under President Bush, the Office of Personnel Management opposed Congressional efforts, led by Senator Joe Lieberman, to expand domestic partnership benefits to federal employees. Former deputy director Howard Weizmann even cited the 2007 Adam Sandler comedy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, about two straight firefighters who pretend to be a gay couple to protect their pension benefits, as proof that gay federal employees might commit fraud to get partner benefits.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8242199&mesg_id=8242199

[bluedawg12]

1. Thanks for the info. Good news!