Gay Man to Be Tapped As Deputy Director of Obama's Public Liaison Office

Bond hails from
Missouri, another asset, according to Trammell. “He
comes from the middle of the country and he seems to
have the ability to deal with the more laid-back
heartland of the country as well as the more urban,
activist parts,” Trammell noted. “He has a
low-key, quiet listening style, which works well when
you have so many passionate members of a community
like we have.”

Trammell added
that Bond’s elevated position within the Office of
Public Liaison was appropriate given his level of
experience with both LGBT issues and the greater
political sphere. Trammell said he is “cautiously
optimistic” that LGBT people would see more
announcements like it.

“One would
hope that we see appointments beyond the terms of the
Clinton administration,” he said. Bill Clinton
was the first president to appoint a liaison to gays
and lesbians. “We’re not there yet," he
said. "What I’m hearing around the country is
that we expect and want some reflection of our
community in appointments and equally, if not more so,
with policies, such as ‘don’t ask,
don’t tell.’”

Bond has served
in several capacities at the DNC. He was hired by
Chairman Howard Dean to replace Donald Hitchcock as
director of the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Council.
The circumstances of Hitchcock’s termination
have been the subject of a lawsuit against Dean and the DNC.
Bond also worked as director of LGBT outreach at the
organization prior to joining the Victory Fund.

In his new
position at the White House, Bond will report to Tina Tchen,
a prominent Chicago lawyer and chief Obama fund-raiser
who has been tapped to run the Office of Public
Liaison.