PHILADELPHIA — Two top former Obama aides and a openly gay Democratic congressman on Tuesday said that Hillary Rodham Clinton would make history by appointing several LGBT cabinet members if elected.
Obama’s former LGBT liaison suggested that gays could be appointed as secretaries of Defense, Commerce, Labor and Treasury.
At an Equality Forum to discuss LGBT politics, Gautam Raghavan suggested an all-gay cabinet, but then laughed it off, and said he wasn’t predicting one when pressed by moderator Richard Socarides, a Clinton supporter and gay rights advocate who advised former President Bill Clinton.
“The one thing that we haven’t seen from the Democrats or the Republicans whenever anybody was president, whether it was a Democrat or Republican, is an openly gay LGBT cabinet member,” said Socarides.
Former State Department official and Clinton ally Mira Patel said that her former boss is likely to appoint a gay cabinet official. “I think she will,” Patel said, pointing to a gay labor activist who was rumored to be on President Obama’s list to be his first Labor secretary.
Raghavan singled out two key gay Obama aides for potential cabinet roles, Army Secretary Eric Fanning and John Berry, the ambassador to Australia and the former Office of Personnel Management director.
Colorado Rep. Jared Polis, also on the panel, said he’d like the Education post. “Obviously I’ve been focused on education issues, so if there’s an opportunity there,” he said, adding that he remains “very excited to serve in Congress.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
