Clues are
beginning to emerge as to what President Obama's
priorities will be for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender Americans during his first term.
The most explicit
directives came to the surface this week on the
President-elect's website within a section labeled more broadly
as "Civil Rights." Under the heading
"Support for the LGBT Community," the
Obama-Biden plan specifically mentions the advancement
in the areas of hate-crimes protections, employment
nondiscrimination, civil unions and partnership recognition,
"don't ask, don't tell," and
AIDS prevention.
The statements
within each category are the boldest and clearest of any
president-elect to date. Referring to civil unions, the
document declares, "Barack Obama supports full
civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights
and privileges equal to those of married couples."
On
"don't ask, don't tell," the
site invokes the highest-ranking officer who has come
out for repeal thus far, retired general John Shalikashvili,
who also succeeded retired general Colin Powell as Joint
Chiefs of Staff. "Barack Obama agrees with
former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John
Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to
repeal the 'don't ask, don't tell'
policy," reads the statement. "The key test
for military service should be patriotism, a sense of
duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination
should be prohibited."
But in only one
place does the site tag a policy pronouncement to a time
line. "In the first year of his presidency, Barack
Obama will develop and begin to implement a
comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes
all federal agencies." The one-year time frame holds
true to a campaign pledge made by president-elect
Obama throughout the election.
While the policy
statements are a tangible measure by which the new
administration can be held accountable, they offer little
insight into exactly how or when certain issues will
be advanced.
Another piece of
the puzzle for LGBT Americans is the man heading up the
Obama-Biden transition, John Podesta, a former Clinton
administration official who founded the think tank
Center for American Progress, which just released a
book called Change for America: A Progressive
Blueprint for the 44th President.
"The
telling part is that President-elect Obama and Vice
President-elect Biden have chosen John Podesta to lead
the transition, which is in perfect keeping with their
governing philosophy as progressives and their support
for nondiscrimination and equality for the LGBT
community," says Winnie Stachelberg, the
center's vice president for external affairs and
coauthor of the book's GLBT chapter.
Although
Stachelberg warns that Podesta's work on the
transition must be kept separate from the concepts
laid out in the book, the LGBT chapter still offers a
window into Podesta's thinking on gay and lesbian
issues. It begins by suggesting the appointment of
"a GLBT liaison to work in the West Wing of the
White House" and then, perhaps not surprisingly,
moves directly into prescribing a new commitment to
fighting HIV and AIDS.
Though the
chapter hits all the usual suspects on the LGBT wish list --
hate crimes, employment nondiscrimination,
"don't ask," partnership
recognition -- Stachelberg adds that she could see a number
of smaller pieces of legislation gaining support early
in the administration, such as offering
domestic-partner benefits to federal employees, equalizing
federal tax treatment for domestic partners, and offering
domestic partners Social Security survivor benefits so
gays and lesbians can pass on Social Security payments
to their partners.
Sen. Joseph
Lieberman has already introduced a bill that would extend DP
benefits to federal employees and held a hearing on the
matter, but President Bush's Office of
Personnel Management, which functions as the human
resources department of federal government, came out in
opposition to providing the benefits.
"I think a
review of that by a different set of eyes will come to a
different conclusion," Stachelberg says of having
another review by the new administration's
personnel office. "I think there could be something
that comes out of OPM that suggests that they want to move
in this direction. Providing domestic-partner benefits
is something that's widely supported by the
American public."
Another popular
item is equalizing the tax treatment for domestic
partners. A bill on that has been introduced by Sen. Charles
Schumer and Sen. Gordon Smith, who was recently
defeated in his reelection bid.
Stachelberg notes
that large corporations, many of which provide such
benefits in order to attract the best and brightest
employees, widely support the legislation because they
pay an increased payroll tax on those benefits and
have to keep a separate set of accounting books for
their gay and lesbian employees.
"The bill
hasn't moved through, but it's got corporate
support and it's something that people like
Rahm Emanuel and some others have been supportive of
for a long time," she says. "Those are the
kinds of issues that I see moving in the next
Congress."
In terms of major
legislation, Stachelberg as well as people like Rep.
Tammy Baldwin see hate-crimes law as an early target, since
it has plenty of support and has already passed
through Congress several times.
But similar to
recent reports that President-elect Obama wouldn't
push repeal of "don't ask, don't
tell," a far stickier matter, in the first two
years of his administration, Stachelberg offers, "I
don't' think there will be a repeal of
'don't ask, don't tell' in the
near future. It's my sense that the Pentagon is
going to want to take a look at that policy with the
incoming people over at the Department of Defense."
Overall,
Stachelberg says it's impossible to overstate the
importance of having a gay-friendly administration. Not only
are there already noticeable changes like the pledge
on Obama's website not to discriminate on the basis of
sexual orientation or gender identity, but, she adds,
"having the additional muscle of the White House is
essential when you're moving
legislation."
One word of
caution from Stachelberg: The economy and Iraq loom large,
and LGBT people are not the only group that has been out in
the cold during the Bush years.
"It
doesn't mean we have to stop advocating, it
doesn't mean we shouldn't be
strategically aggressive," she says. "I just
think we have to be patient and make sure we're
working collaboratively with our progressive allies,
many of whom who have been in the same position we have been
for the last eight years."
