Obama Names Record Number of Gays to Administration Posts

President Barack Obama has already named more gay men and lesbians to administration positions than any White House, according to an institute keeping tabs on the appointments.

Obama has appointed 150 gays to high-level slots at agencies, commissions, and White House staff positions compared to 140 named by President Clinton during the entire eight years of his presidency, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

You wouldn't know it from the gay protests and outbursts during speeches that have dogged Obama as he campaigns for Democratic candidates in the midterm election. Some in the gay community are disappointed that the president has yet to topple the ban on openly gay people serving in the armed forces. The "don't ask, don't tell" law was overturned by a federal court in California but an appeals judge issued a stay, keeping the policy nominally in place for the time being.

Obama favors repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," but wants to wait for a report in December from the Defense Department detailing how the change would be implemented. The U.S. House has voted to take the law off the books, but a Senate version of the bill stalled.

As for the appointment, White House spokesman Shin Inouye said Obama is committed to naming "highly qualified individuals to each post. We have made a record number of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender) appointments and we are confident that this number will only continue to grow."

About two dozen of the gay appointments have required Senate confirmation, the Presidential Appointments Project of the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute said. But none has stirred controversy similar to that which surrounded Clinton's naming of then-San Francisco Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg as assistant secretary for Housing and Urban Development. Achtenberg was confirmed but only after the late Sen. Jesse Helms denounced her as a "militant extremist."

Obama has not picked a gay cabinet secretary, but John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees 1.9 million federal workers, is the highest-ranking gay official ever named to an administration post, the AP said. Other prominent appointments include Nancy Sutley as head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Fred Hochberg, chairman of the Export-Import Bank.