Last Wednesday national leaders from the LGBTQ community were invited to a group meeting with representatives from the Obama/Biden Transition Team. The historic meeting was an opportunity for LGBTQ leaders to share our thoughts and to continue a dialogue which began during the campaign and I hope continues throughout the Obama/Biden Administration.
A number of things about the meeting left me feeling very optimistic about the developing relationship between Obama's Administration and the LGBTQ community. For starters, The Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute's excellent leadership on the Presidential Appointments Project has resulted in a collaborative effort our community can certainly be proud of. The transition team cited it as a model for how constituency groups should approach the appointments process. Kudos to Chuck Wolfe and Mark Perriello for their vision and leadership on this project.
Leaders such as Rea Carey from The Task Force, and Joe Solmonese from the Human Rights Campaign, spoke about some of our top concerns. Chuck Wolfe from The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, shared his comments on our community's expectations during the remainder of the transition process. Ben DeGuzman of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA), Mara Keisling of the National Center for Transgender Equality, Leonard Hirsch of the Federal GLOBE and I all spoke to the intersections of our community over many other constituency groups and the need to address the many constituencies within the LGBTQ community. Rebecca Haag from the AIDS Action Council and H. Alexander Robinson from the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) brought up a number of important points about the AIDS epidemic which continues to plague our community. Others spoke very eloquently about many vital issues.
Several organizations had already prepared a large binder of policy recommendations on LGBT issues. NYAC, who participated in the project, will be certain to share that document as soon as the electronic version is finalized. In addition, there was discussion on workplace discrimination, government funding of LGBT friendly services, homelessness, at-risk youth, community based service providers, racial equality and other important topics. NYAC and other organizations also submitted papers for the transition team to review. Click here to check out NYAC's submission.
I was also impressed at how informed and engaged the transition team's representative were on our community's issues. The level of leadership present and attention to the conversation was impressive. The agenda set out by the Obama/Biden Administration on LGBTQ issues shows strong leadership and insight into issues important to many in the LGBTQ community. The LGBT representatives on the transition team are vibrant and empowered, including the very astute Transition Team LGBT Liaison, Parag Mehta. I understand the Liaison position will continue after the transition concludes - I hope this proves to be true.
The last thing I wanted to comment on was this administration's commitment to transparency. They have already taken it further than I anticipated. The entire meeting was video recorded and all of the documents collected will be scanned and made available online. For example, here is the entry for NYAC's paper. This link allows you to what we submitted and provide comments on it. This level of online access to governance is unprecedented. I think it is an important indication of things to come. No doubt our community will need to strategically think about how to utilize these new online tools. It appears that Schoolhouse Rock may need to update their video on how a bill becomes a law. The current version is missing e-advocacy, wikis and online commentary periods.
I encourage you to engage the administration with their new online communication tools at Change.gov. I especially want to encourage you to keep an eye on what's being submitted to the administration and take your seat at the table. No doubt NYAC and our community will have a disagreement with Obama and his team on some issue at some point. However, it appears that things are off to a good start.
For those of you that are interested, here is the participant list for this meeting, as kindly provided by Parag Mehta, Obama/Biden Transition Team LGBT Liaison.
Leaders Joining in Person
in alphabetical order
1. U.S. Representative Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin)
2. Elizabeth Birch, Former President of the Human Rights Campaign
3. Jeremy Bishop, AFL-CIO Pride at Work
4. Brian Bond, Former National Constituency Director at Obama for America
5. Mark Bromley, Council for Global Equality
6. Rea Carey, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF)
7. Mandy Carter, Co-Chair of Obama PRIDE
8. Kevin Cathcart, Lambda Legal
9. Jamie Citron, Former Deputy LGBT Vote Director at Obama for America
10. Ben DeGuzman, National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA)
11. U.S. Representative Barney Frank (Massachusetts)
12. Joan Garry, Co-Chair of Obama for America LGBT National Finance Council
13. Rebecca Haag, AIDS Action Council
14. Leonard Hirsch, Federal GLOBE
15. Jon Hoadley, National Stonewall Democrats (NSD)
16. Jody Huckaby, Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
17. Mara Keisling, National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE)
18. Justin Nelson, National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
19. Dave Noble, Former LGBT Vote Director at Obama for America
20. Matt Nosanchuk, Convener of the LGBT Policy Committee, Obama for America
21. Mark Perriello, Presidential Appointments Project (coalition of 12 national LGBT groups)
22. U.S. Representative-Elect Jared Polis (Colorado)
23. H. Alexander Robinson, National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC)
24. Aubrey Sarvis, Service Members Legal Defense Network (SLDN)
25. Joe Solmonese, Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
26. Campbell Spencer, Co-Chair of Obama PRIDE
27. Winnie Stachelberg, Senior Vice President a the Center for American Progress
28. Greg Varnum, National Youth Advocacy Coalition (NYAC)
29. Chuck Wolfe, Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute
Leaders Joining By Phone
in alphabetical order
1. Marsha Botzer, Co-Chair of Obama PRIDE
2. Dr. Eliza Byard, Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
3. Jorge Cestou, Unid@s
4. Jennifer Chrisler, Family Equality Council
5. Matt Coles, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and AIDS Project
6. Earl Fowlkes, International Federation of Black Prides (IFBP)
7. Rebecca Fox, National Coalition for LGBT Health
8. Jesse Garcia, Co-Chair of Obama PRIDE
9. Kate Kendell, National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR)
10. Carolyn Laub, Gay-Straight Alliance Network (GSAN)
11. Rick Stafford, Chair of the DNC Gay and Lesbian Caucus
12. Eric Stern, Co-Chair of Obama PRIDE
13. Lee Swislow, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD)
14. Andy Tobias, Treasurer of the DNC
15. Evan Wolfson, Freedom to Marry
Presidential Transition Team
in speaking order
1. Fred Hochberg, Agency Review Team Lead
2. Mike Strautmanis, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison
3. Dana Singiser, Director of Public Liaison
4. John Podesta, Co-Chair
5. Parag Mehta, Public Liaison
6. Jim Messina, Director of Personnel
7. Elaine Kaplan, Agency Review Team Lead
8. Heather Higginbottom
9. Melody Barnes, Co-Director of Agency Review
10. Roberta Achtenberg, Agency Review Team Lead
also attending from the PTT
11. Tom Perez, Agency Review Team Lead
12. Brad Kiley, Director of Operations
13. John Michael Gonzales, Congressional Affairs
14. Chris Chan, Volunteer
15. Pepin Tuma, Volunteer
16. Alex Wagner, Volunteer
Additional Guests
1. Rufus Gifford
2. Jeremy Bernard
3. Karine Jean Pierre
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