Gay man picked to head OPM — "Highest ranking openly gay official ever"

[NYCGirl]

From AmericaBlog

http://www.americablog.com/2009/01/gay-man-picked-to-head-opm.html


John Berry has been chosen to head the Office of Personnel Management. I'm pretty sure he's the most senior gay person ever appointed to a position in any administration (closeted cabinet appointees don't count). He is to be the head of a large agency, and that's a good thing. I'd still like to see us advance from here and in the future get an openly gay person heading an agency that handles substantive policy outside of the administration.

From the Human Rights Campaign:

"The selection of John Berry to head the Office of Personnel Management, making him the highest-ranking openly gay official ever, is a meaningful step forward for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community."

"In his new role, John will make critical decisions regarding the implementation of fair workplace policies for millions of federal workers. We congratulate him on his remarkable achievements and look forward to his continued leadership for the LGBT community and the nation as a whole."

[Unsane]

1. Rick Warren

[NYCGirl]

3. At least you got it out of the way.

:thumbsup:

[geek tragedy]

13. Thank you for your thoughtful contribution. n/t

[CreekDog]

20. Rick Warren was not appointed to head OPM, or anything else for that matter

:eyes:

[demwing]

27. Stop!

Hammer Time!

[TankLV]

28. Amen! Enough said...

trying to paper over a fucking hole in the wall...

FAIL!

[Chulanowa]

32. I'm hoping you're not serious

I'm really, really hoping

[cliffordu]

35. lol.

:rofl:

[Dawgs]

38. Quit your fucking crying already; Warren will mean nothing after next Tuesday.

I'm getting really close to never coming back here.

[jackpan1260]

37. Who is this "Rick Warren" you speak of?

Maybe someone can start some new threads about him so I can learn more.

[Phoonzang]

42. Too bad. Nothing you can do about it. Deal. nt

[firedupdem]

2. K & R! Great to hear.

[Aristus]

40. Man ALIVE! That is one beautimous family!

And they're our First Family! What a proud thing! :patriot:

[jenmito]

4. Just another empty gesture made by Obama to try to mitigate his Warren pick.

:sarcasm:

[cliffordu]

36. Yeah, that sick bastard thinks we don't 'get it'....

[Cha]

5. Rec'd~Wow!

"In his new role, John will make critical decisions regarding the implementation of fair workplace policies for millions of federal workers. We congratulate him on his remarkable achievements and look forward to his continued leadership for the LGBT community and the nation as a whole."

[jenmito]

6. K& (5th) R BTW! n/t

[jenmito]

7. Pretty words. Nothing more...

Oh wait-never mind. :D

[Maven]

8. K/R

[1776Forever]

9. Excellent news. I am very glad this person was chosen for this position.

And it still doesn't make me want to NOT watch Rick Warren and what he asks for from the Administration.

Thanks for posting.

[Political Tiger]

10. K & R!

:kick:

[DavidDvorkin]

11. Highest ranking in the Executive Branch

An openly gay senator or representative could be considered as higher ranking.

[TheWraith]

14. Maybe "most powerful" would be a better choice of words. nt

[sniffa]

17. More powerful than a governor

like Tammy Baldwin.

[TheWraith]

18. She's a congressional rep... unless there's been an election I haven't heard about. nt

[sniffa]

19. How about that

much less powerful.

[Zynx]

12. A position that actually has impact on hiring decisions versus empty symbolism with Rick Warren...

Hmm....I don't think DU will be happy because for some reason a good many people here think fluff is more important than substance.

[TheWraith]

15. The Office of Personnel Management:

The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is an independent agency of the United States government that manages the civil service of the federal government.

OPM was originally founded as the United States Civil Service Commission by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883. The commission was abolished and replaced by OPM on 1 January 1979 following the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 and Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1978 (43 F.R. 36037, 92 Stat. 3783).

The OPM is partially responsible for maintaining the appearance of independence and neutrality in the Administrative Law System. While technically the employees of the agencies they work for, Administrative Law Judges (or ALJs) are hired exclusively by the Office of Personnel Management, effectively removing any discretional employment procedures from the other agencies. The Office of Personnel Management uses a rigorous selection process which ranks the top three candidates for each ALJ vacancy, and then makes a selection from those candidates, generally awarding an extreme preference toward any United States veteran who is a candidate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Personnel_Management

[Thrill]

16. Obama has appointed several gay people to his administration now

But all we hear about is Rick Warren.

[TankLV]

29. yeah - too bad for you and all the rest of the apologists here on DU...

[Thrill]

31. Too bad for the Warren whiners

[Lucky 13]

21. Holy shit! That's my old boss!

Check that out!

[NYC_SKP]

22. Recommendation number 16.

Great news well worth sharing.

Thanks, NYCGirl,

NYC_SKP

:kick:

[NYCGirl]

24. You're very welcome! NT

[awoke_in_2003]

23. k&r. nt

[Number23]

25. No one can honestly be surprised these types of appointments are happening in an Obama admin

If you genuinely are, well, I don't know what to tell you...

And I'm sure that there will be more of these to come.

[Occam Bandage]

26. This is a good step to ensure continued GLBT equality for Federal employees.

I like this appointment.

[Zynx]

34. It's a very meaningful appointment.

[blonndee]

30. Any more info about this guy?

Would like to know.

And it has NOTHING to do with the fact that I went to school with a psycho by the same name who stalked me and who everyone expected to go all "Falling Down" on our asses.

"John Berry" would seem to be a fairly common name, after all. ")

[NYCGirl]

39. Here's more from the link in the article I posted:

http://www.federaltimes.com/federal-times-blog/2009/01/13/john-berry-at-opm/

And more:

http://www.gaypolitics.com/2009/01/13/obama-to-nominate-berry-as-director-of-office-of-personnel-management/

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2009/01/new_opm_director_soon.html?wprss=rss_blog

[Name removed]

33. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sundog]

41. this is good

some of the snarky bullshit upthread is not

[Uncle Joe]

43. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, NYCGirl.

[Marrah_G]

44. I'm glad to see some openly gay people climbing the DC ladder

Hopefully we will see more in the future.