HRC Blog

This afternoon, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the nomination of Paul Oetken to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. President Obama nominated Oetken in late January, making Oetken this Administration’s third openly LGBT judicial nominee. The Senate previously confirmed Marissa Demeo to the D.C. Superior Court and Ed DuMont currently awaits a hearing before the committee.

I was honored to represent HRC at the first ever Federal LGBT Youth Summit these fast two days, hosted by the Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. In addition to Secretary Kevin Jennings and many of his DOE staff members, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Department of Justice, and other federal agencies were well represented. Many of the federal agency representatives “came out” as LGBT while speaking at the two-day meeting, and for some- especially those who have worked in Government positions for many years- it was an emotional experience. For years, these dedicated LGBT and ally professionals had to keep a low profile. Often times the best they could do was to find creative (covert) approaches to fund and implement any LGBT-inclusive programs. History was made today. This summit is unprecedented and would not be possible without a genuinely supportive President and Administration, including Secretary Arne Duncan and his staff.

This year, 230 people attended the MCC Conference for People of African Descent (PAD) & Our Friends and Allies in Washington, DC. The conference is offered primarily as a forum for people of African Descent within the Universal fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches across the country. It is a way for African Descent members to connect with one another for worship, celebration, skills-building, strategizing, and leadership development. This year, HRC's own Donna Payne was honored with the Rosa Parks Award! The award is given to someone who has done incredible work in the African Descent community to show how the task of bridge building and creating relationships of mutuality and respect with one another while achieving major strategic movement for the lgbt community.

I’ve learned that sometimes the old adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words” is not adequate. Despite the myriad of pictures I saw on the news channels and in the media, I was completely unprepared for what I saw when I drove into Joplin last Saturday. This is a case where the pictures simply cannot capture the full, expansive extent of the destruction caused by the tornado that cut a wide swath through Joplin, MO on May 15th. It’s difficult to imagine the force of nature that descended on this small town. We arrived nearly a week after the tornado hit and yet it appeared as if it had happened only hours before. The line of destruction is very clear spanning from 19th to 27th streets and then miles long. Most of the buildings are reduced to rubble. The tree limbs are sheared off and in many cases even the bark is gone. It’s as if a giant came through cruelly with a machete carving up a chunk of the town. Or, more descriptively, a nuclear bomb was detonated.

Today, the House passed the annual defense authorization bill, which included three anti-lesbian and gay amendments approved by the House Armed Services Committee earlier this month. The amendments attempt to slow the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) and continue discrimination against lesbian and gay service members, as well as lesbian- and gay-affirming chaplains.