BREAKING: Gay man among Obama’s recess appointments

[Political Tiger]

Source: Gay Politics

This afternoon the White House announced President Barack Obama has made recess appointments of four nominees whose confirmations were being held up in the Senate. Among them is Richard Sorian, an openly gay man who will be the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.

“At a time when our nation faces so many pressing challenges, I urge members of the Senate to stop playing politics with our highly qualified nominees, and fulfill their responsibilities of advice and consent,” President Obama said in a release this afternoon. “Until they do, I reserve the right to act within my authority to do what is best for the American people.”

Obama has appointed hundreds of openly LGBT staff to his administration, with many recommended by the Presidential Appointments Project, the LGBT community’s effort to increase the number of out presidential appointees.

From the White House announcement:

Richard Sorian, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services

Richard Sorian is currently a Senior Adviser to the Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services. Previously, he was Vice President for Public Policy and External Relations for the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), where he directed the organization’s media relations, policy development and advocacy, and relations with employers, consumers, and other key stakeholders. Before working for NCQA, Sorian was Director of Public Affairs for the Center for Studying Health System Change and a Project Director at the Georgetown University Institute for Health Care Research and Policy. From 1993 to 1998, Sorian was a Senior Advisor for Health Policy Communications in the Office of Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna E. Shalala. In that capacity, Sorian focused on health care reform, HIV/AIDS policy, and health care quality improvement. From1997 to 1998, he served as Deputy Director of the President’s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry, where he directed work on the Patient’s Bill of Rights. From 1980 to 1993, Sorian was an award-winning journalist covering U.S. health care policy development. He was editor of Medicine & Health and the Journal of American Health Policy. He is also the author of three books: The Bitter Pill: Tough Choice in America’s Health Policy (1989); A New Deal for American Health Care (1993); and The Health Care 500 (1988). He is a graduate of George Washington University and, in 1989, was awarded a fellowship for Advanced Studies in Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Read more: http://www.gaypolitics.com/2010/08/19/breaking-gay-man-among-obamas-recess-appointments/

[HillbillyBob]

1. When the idiot rs start bitchin just remind them how they

failed to do their job and that (*) made how many recess appointments of riechwingers?

[bluestateguy]

2. "Disgusting. What is this nation coming to?"

"He's destroying the America I knew as a boy!" *

*Actaul quote from elderly white southerner (hmmmmmm...).

[No Elephants]

62. Remind him or her that gays have always been in government, but closeted.

In your elderly friend's youth, white male America denied rights to women and variousl minorities, including gay people. In fact, closeted gay legislators were among those denying rights to gay people. Still are.

Americans and people around the world are simply better now at being honest and accepting of our brothers and sisters, just as Jesus said we should be. So, it's a hallelujah moment, not an occasion to mourn the loss of a more evil America.

Matthew 22:34-King James Version


34But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

35Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38This is the first and great commandment.

39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."


Emphasize to him or her: Jesus boiled everything down to two rules and said that loving your neighbour is like loving God--and Jesus made no exceptions for your gay "neighbours." Indeed, no exceptions whatever.

Amen.

[superconnected]

3. Now watch the Christians attack Obama for saying he is Christian.

My former boss - a severe right wing Christian nutcase will insist Obama is satan now for appointing a gay man.

Oh, and:
+1000 for Obama for the appointment!

We're all going to be forced to go gay now! The Repukes saw this coming! :rofl:

[awoke_in_2003]

12. I just felt...

the sanctity of my marriage break :)

[LeftishBrit]

17. You'll be forced to marry a turtle!

[awoke_in_2003]

18. oh, the shame

:rofl:

[Kurovski]

54. Mitch McConnell is already married.

But polygamy is cool, right?

[Hekate]

56. Polygamous marriage is about as traditional as it gets, but I'd prefer a turtle to Mitch McConnell

[No Elephants]

66. DUzy!

[No Elephants]

64. I think you meant to say "faux Christians." Please see Reply 62 and

Matthew 7: 1-5(King James Version)

1Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.





Another version of the same teaching is in Luke 6 Matthew 7





Luke 6 (King James Version)


41And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

42Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.

43For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

44For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

45A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

46And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

[Schema Thing]

4. oh sure, but will Obama stand up with him at his wedding?

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[xchrom]

5. Good for Mr Sorian. Nt

[No Elephants]

68. +1

[AlbertCat]

6. Richard Sorian, an openly gay man

Who cannot serve in the military.

[countmyvote4real]

9. Thank you for that. n/t

[awoke_in_2003]

13. Or get married. nt

[MineralMan]

40. He can in DC or Iowa, or several other places.

[awoke_in_2003]

43. key words being "several places"...

both DOMA and DADT need to go.

[MineralMan]

45. Agreed. Both need to go. And so they will.

At least they will if the Republicans don't regain control of Congress. We can all help to prevent that.

[awoke_in_2003]

48. should have gotten it done while we had the chance...

historically, the sitting president loses one of the houses in off year elections.

[No Elephants]

70. Are you sure? Judge Walker was a Republican appointee. Mehlman headed the RNC, etc.

[No Elephants]

69. So what? Would you want to have to move from California to D.C. simply to marry?

Because if you plan on returning to your home state, your marriage may not be recognized for ANY purpose, including granting of a divorce, should you and your partner ever desire one.

And allowing gay marriage in fewer than all states still legitimizes (literally) the heinous convinction that gays are somehow less than other humans, much as Jim Crow laws did with African Americans. And that provides a rationale for all kinds of undesirable behavior from those whose bigotry is enshrined in our laws.

People who don't have basic human rights under the laws of their own country are at least are at least fully entitled to their human pain. If you can't empathize with your GLBT brothers and sister, at least have enough grace to be silent and keep transparent posts like this to yourself.

Anyone who hasn't been in a coma since the 1980's knows same gender marriage is legal in a paltry number of U.S. jurisdictions, so please don't try to justify this post as adding facts to our knowledge.

[keepCAblue]

30. Or marry the man he loves ... or deserve protection from workplace discrimination.

[QC]

63. Please, you are interrupting an old and cherished DU ritual,

the one in which the straight people line up to tell the gay people to sit the fuck down, shut the fuck up, and be grateful.

[No Elephants]

71. Not all the straight people.

I would never fault anyone on this, but ignoring hetero support--such as it is--may not be in the best interests of gays, which is the only reason I mention it.

[QC]

74. Very true, and I apologize for using such a broad brush.

Most straight people here believe in equality without reservation, and I am thankful for them every day.

[No Elephants]

77. No apology necessary whatsoever.

If I had to put up with all that gays have to put up with, I would not be able to function. Anyway, this thread has way too many posts that match your comment all too well.

Blessings and hugs.

[Name removed]

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[jonnyblitz]

7. it's sad that this should be considered "late breaking news" . it

should be a non-event but since Obama has a shaky reputation on the gay issues it is a BIGGER deal than it should be, I suppose.

[monmouth]

8. It's a shame that "gay" has to be mentioned at all....n/t

[Justess]

27. Bingo!

My initial reaction, exactly. Why not tell the story about his credentials and how well-qualified he seems to be, instead?

[Political Tiger]

52. You'll have to take that up with the people at Gay Politics

About Gay Politics

Gay Politics covers the intersection of politics and the fight for equality for gays and lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. We follow key stories about electoral politics, the legislative process and the people involved in both, with a special emphasis on the campaigns and careers of openly LGBT candidates and elected officials.

http://www.gaypolitics.com/

[No Elephants]

80. No, take it with the people who make and keep gays and others second class citizens, so

that what doesn't make a ripple for a hetero white male is a big novelty for other groups. Gay Politics is only recording events, not creating them.

[Name removed]

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[No Elephants]

81. Please see Reply 80.

[boomerbust]

10. Breaking News?

Because the guy is gay? OK

[LostinVA]

11. Can Mr. Sorian be married and serve in the US military?

No and no?

Then big fucking deal.

[northzax]

14. probably, he can be married

he most likely lives in the District . he can't, of course, then vote.

[LostinVA]

23. And who recognizes his marriage?

His employer? The Rederal Gov't?

[Political Tiger]

35. How long you gonna play this broken record?

Even if his marriage was recognized by the "Rederal Gov't," it still doesn't change the fact that Obama appointed him and hundreds of other gay men and women to serve in his administration.

[Safetykitten]

73. Ah, the uprising of the office gays. What a strategy! They will demand their rights.

How I did not see this? It's brilliant!

Hire gay government workers and when he says so, they rise up and demand their rights.

[No Elephants]

79. Why should gays stop mentioning they can't marry?

And how much of a pisant does someone have to be to make a big deal out of an obvious typo? While complaining gays should stop mentioning not having first class legal rights, no less. Jaysus. Talk about irony and priorities!

[northzax]

60. the District of Columbia

we can't vote, but the gays can get hitched. it's on our license plates now.

[No Elephants]

83. He still won't get the federal benefits of marriage. And heaven help him if he ever wants

to move from D.C.

[Political Tiger]

15. You want to know why it is a "big fucking deal?"

Because when I was growing up, we had no openly gay people serving in the government. In fact, there were barely any openly gay people in the public eye at all. We had no role models. No one to look up to. We were told to be ashamed of ourselves.

Obama has appointed hundreds of openly gay men and women to his administration and that's got to be reassuring to young people growing up today who are told they are not worthy human beings and that their life is meaningless. Now, they have role models, people they can point to and say the President of the United States thinks they are worthy to serve with for him, and therefore, my life is worthy too!

Don't you people ever get tired of complaining? Are you not able to see the light in anything? Does nothing count? Are you totally unable to see the big picture? Have you been so blinded by hate and rage that all you can do is bitch and whine, over and over and over, and always about the same damn thing?

Because you see life through such a narrow lens you would have whined "big fucking deal" when Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors because he couldn't "be married and serve in the US military."

You act as if the only thing that matters to gay people is serving in the military and getting married, as if nothing else in the entire world matters to us. Take the blinders off for once in your life, and look around, and try, if even just for one fucking minute, to see the bright side of life. Just try it, once, you may find out that life is not so fucking bad as you have convinced yourself that it is!

And while you're at it, why not stop being so fucking selfish all the time? Believe it or not, the world does NOT revolve around YOU! Try being happy for the openly gay men and women who Obama has hired to be part of the United States government. Try being happy for the young people who, thanks to President Obama, now have hundreds of role models they can look up too and be proud of!

"Then big fucking deal."

What a big fucking COP-OUT!

[Historic NY]

16. K&R

[Whisp]

19. SPOT ON! rec'ing your post, PolTig.

[JuniperLea]

20. BRILLIANT!!

You cut to the chase, and cut through the crap! Well done!

Edited to say... I never knew there was such a thing as gay until I heard Lou Reed's "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" and The Kinks' "Lola." And I grew up in Los Angeles County... everything happens here first. Much like Obama, they've come a long way in a short period of time with a shit-load of obstruction. It sickens me to see alleged progressives and liberals add to that heap of bullshit.

[LostinVA]

24. Well no, he didn't "cut through the crap"

Can Mr. Sorian marry and serve his country in uniform?

[JuniperLea]

28. Restating the crap doesn't invalidate the cutting through same...

You might go back and re-read... I would feel mighty foolish...

[Political Tiger]

29. Could Harvey Milk "marry and serve his country in uniform?"

Since he couldn't, I imagine if you had your way, you would have renamed the Sean Penn movie about his life "Then Big Fucking Deal."

[Radical Activist]

58. lol

Good point.

[Name removed]

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[canetoad]

55. And you know for a fact he wants to?

When you do, come back and post his words here. Until then you would be wise to not ascribe ambitions to anyone but yourself.

[No Elephants]

86. Irrelevant, Jim Crow laws have effects well beyond their specific subject matter.

It's the federal government tell bigots who torment and discriminate against gays, "You're right. Something is so fundamentally wrong with gays that we refuse to legitimize their right to something as basic as marriage; and we don't even want them risking their lives in the military, though we're desperate for troops. You have reason to look down on them, to have contempt for them. Your government agrees with you."

And the poster is also making a point that has to do with gays in general, not this individual. But you knew that, didn't you?

[Born_A_Truman]

21. Bravo PT!

:yourock:

[LostinVA]

22. Can Mr. Sorian marry and serve his country in uniform?

[Political Tiger]

38. You can keep saying that over and over and over and over and over.....

but it still doesn't change the fact that Obama appointed him and hundreds of other openly gay men and women to serve in his administration.

You know who you sound like? You sound like Jan Brady!

Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!

Too bad Mike Brady (who was played by a gay man who couldn't get married in real life) isn't around to give you a good talking too!

[No Elephants]

82. By the same token, this appointment doesn't change the fact that the US

still has Jim Crow laws for gays. So, what's your point?

You indicate that you are gay, yet everything seems to be about defending Obama for you. He doesn't need your help and has no idea you exist, let alone what you're posting.

If you're over gay rights, how about offering some support for fellow DUers who've been given a hard time all their lives for no good reason, still don't have first class citizeship and are justifiably angry and hurt over it? And, if you can't bring yourself to that, how about at least letting them express their real and justifiable pain without adding to it by taunting them as their junior high classmates did?

Btw, do you have any idea what YOU sound like?

[Hekate]

25. RRRRROWWWRRRRR!!!!! You go, Tiger!

[NightHawk63]

26. Bravo!!!!

I'm not gay, but I also agree that this is a BFD. As a black man, I cringe when I hear people say that they gay struggle can't be equated with the black struggle. Its all about equal rights. If gays can be denied rights, how safe are mine.

So, kudos on a great post!!!

:fistbump:

[HillWilliam]

44. If I could rec a reply...

How safe are anybody's rights if the first right can be taken away. To me, that's why having the right to marriage taken away in California scared shit out of me, not nearly as much as a gay man as it did as an American. The moment any right can be put to a vote and taken away, every right becomes fair game. Make no mistake, there has been an awful lot of pushing the envelope in the last ten years in what rights can be abridged by fiat and what gets put to popular vote.

Every single time GLBTs have been targeted, the African American community has only been a step behind in getting the next whack. Arabs, latinos, anyone with a non-murrikin accent, or who is melanin-enhanced, educated, right down the line... you name a target and the reich-wing have gone after it by strangling funds, denying franchise, marginalization of every vile sort, and yes, even putting their dignity and humanity up for a vote.

The job gets ever-so-much easier when there's a goodly segment of the population who are gleefully willing to throw their own rights away because they're stupid or evil enough to believe they're getting over on someone else. "It'll never affect me" are probably the stupidest four words in the universe. Who needs a big, splashy coup d'état when you can get people to throw their own rights and freedoms away.

Indeed, if anyone's rights can be denied, nobody's can. :fistbump:

[JuniperLea]

76. Great post!

It's all about civil rights. Gay, Black, Muslim... no matter how you slice and dice and pigeonhole society, if you take rights away from any one group, you endanger the rights of us all. When radical religiods in any group kill people, the tears of their families are equally salty. Planes into buildings, shooting abortion doctors in church, blowing up abortion clinics, burning the religious texts of others... it's all hate, and it's all wrong. There is no varying degrees.

I hope there is a special place in hell for those who commit heinous acts in the name of God.

[Justess]

31. Well said

and true, PT! Without gays being appointed or employed in our government, there's really little chance that the military and gay marriage changes will be made, either. It might take baby steps, but all good change seems to take more time than many have patience for, unfortunately. Those who complain rather than seeing the light at the end of the tunnel should remember MLK and Rosa Parks, for example.

[keepCAblue]

32. "you people"

invalidates the whole rant, er uh, post.

[Political Tiger]

36. How so? n/t

[JNelson6563]

47. I think not, not this time

Many valid points, too many to be taken down by your nit-picky criticism to justify your dismissive attitude toward an excellent post.

Can't say I blame you for that strategy tho', I wouldn't try to match wits with that particular poster if I were you either. For that you get a smidgeon of credit. Make that a scintilla.

Now run along and take your poo-flinging-monkey routine with you.

Julie

[Name removed]

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[JNelson6563]

90. Why, yes I do, thanks for asking.

We had a very thoughtful post that was well written and full of valid points. Then we get a nonsense response depending on word parsing to dismiss the whole thing. I think that's one of the things way wrong with DU lately. People overlook valid points and sound discussion, focus on parsing words no doubt with the hopes of finding some way to claim something they don't agree with is invalid or some such.

I remember when DU was full of grown ups who could have real discussion even when they disagreed. Sadly the admins are currently choosing the path of dissembling so it looks like the trend won't be ending anytime soon.

Julie

[SeattleGirl]

34. Bravo, PT!!

It IS a big fucking deal.

[MineralMan]

39. +10

[yowzayowzayowza]

41. “A cynic is a man who looks at the world with a monocle in his mind's eye.”

-Carolyn Wells

Thx PT. Needz to be said.

[CBR]

42. Bravo PT! Excellent!! nt

[JNelson6563]

46. Well said.

I give it a 10 out of 10. :yourock: :hug:

Julie

[SoxFan]

49. Viva La Pwnage!

[POAS]

50. Nice post PT....wish I could rec. n/t

[firedupdem]

51. Spot on! n/t

[SunsetDreams]

59. Awesome!! Heartlily agree, and wish I could K&R!

[SunsetDreams]

65. oops Heartily, anyways LOL

[laylah]

61. +1000! nt

[Safetykitten]

72. "Because when I was growing up"....

because when you were growing up that's the way it was?

Maybe you have not looked around but it is 2010.

After all you wrote it comes down to this. The younger generations are MORE THAN COMFORTABLE AND HAPPY with having gays marry, serve in the military and do everything that hetersosexuals do, and SURPRISINGLY, actually work in an office environment! Maybe, just maybe if our President had some courage, he would use this in pushing the agenda faster than my mother with her walker. Oh, and these appointments are nothing more than "look at me! Friend of teh gays!"

Are we gays that desperate? He hires someone to work in an office. BFD.

[No Elephants]

84. "We were told to be ashamed of ourselves." Um, gays still are.

Please see Reply 69--and that is only the tip of the iceberg.

[Political Tiger]

92. No sweetie, not all of us are ashamed of ourselves

Some of us have pride in ourselves. You should try it. It's better than being full of hate and bitterness.

[truthisfreedom]

33. Further proof that he's a muslin!

See! I told you!!!!11!!!

[JNelson6563]

37. Nice.

:toast:

[firedupdem]

53. K&R! n/t

[Name removed]

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[Number23]

89. PT, damn I'm glad we're on the same team.

Too late to rec but I can kick