White House Picks New LGBT Liaison

The Obama administration has chosen Gautam Raghavan, a former Pentagon official, as the new White House LGBT liaison in the Office of Public Engagement, Metro Weekly reported Wednesday afternoon.

Raghavan, the Department of Defense's former deputy White House liaison, will replace Brian Bond, who announced in August that he was leaving his post to become director of constituency outreach at the Democratic National Committee.

Raul Alvillar, the associate director for public engagement at the Office of the Vice President, had been serving as the interim LGBT liaison following Bond's departure.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network executive director Aubrey Sarvis, who worked closely with Raghavan on the "don't ask, don't tell" repeal process along with other LGBT advocates, said Wednesday, "We look forward to working with [Raghavan] as we move toward addressing the post-repeal inequities that remain for our nation's service members, including family support and benefit parity for married couples and the need for a nondiscrimination policy."

Read the report here.