Petrelis Files

NYT ('01): Agriculture Dept Plans
to Hire Gay Liaison

An ancient, meaning pre-9/11, story from the New York Times, about plans at the Agriculture Department to hire a gay liaison in the first months of the Bush administration gave me reason to chuckle when I came across it this week.

First, I had no recollection that any such pro-gay opportunity was under consideration so early in the new administration, and it seems now, at almost the same point in the Obama administration, when lots of gay issues are not being addressed, quite radical for any federal agency to think of creating a liaison position.

Secondly, if I had to pick an agency most likely to appoint a gay liaison, at the bottom of my list would be the Department of Agriculture. The Department of Health and Human Services, which funds and directs many programs for LGBT persons, and employs lots of people from the community, seems a better choice to start a liaison program at all of the federal agencies.

I can't Google up any info showing that the Agriculture officials hired anyone for the slot.

An assistant in the department's press office couldn't confirm there was a gay liaison, and offered this suggestion and explanation:

Institutional knowledge about a possible LGBT liaison earlier in the decade more than likely left with the Bush Administration, unless you wanted an in-depth review of personnel records. This would require a Freedom of Information Act request.

In lieu of that, it may be helpful for you to learn historical perspective in what is known as the Plum Book of 2000 and 2004. In the 2008 Plum Book that I reviewed last night, I was not able to find a title specific relating to the LGBT community.

A query sent to the Times reporter who wrote the article, Eric Schmitt, has not produced a reply. Who better to know whatever happened to this liaison position at Agriculture, than the writer who brought it to everyone's attention?

Why was I thinking about gay liaisons and the federal government? It had to do with an excellent column by veteran journalist and lesbian Karen Ocamb, who's extensively covered recent presidents and LGBT matters. Click here to read Ocamb's "President Obama - Give Us an LGBT Advocate," from the Huffington Post, in which she backs the appointment of a liaison for us at the White House.

Check out these excerpts from the June 20, 2001, story from the New York Times:

The Agriculture Department is advertising for a ''gay and lesbian program specialist'' who would help improve working conditions for the agency's gay employees.

Gay advocates said today that they believed it was the first time an administration had sought to hire someone to handle gay and lesbian issues in the federal workplace.

''It's a big deal,'' said E. Julian Potter, who was President Bill Clinton's liaison to the gay and lesbian community. ''It takes an enormous amount of time to affect this kind of change within an administration.'' ...

The gay and lesbian specialist would help to carry out policies recommended by the department's gay and lesbian employee council that are adopted by the department. ...

Over the years, federal agencies have created special positions to handle issues concerning employees who are Hispanic or women, for instance, but the Agriculture Department job appears to be the first comparable position for gay workers. ...

Requirements for the job are fairly broad, including a ''skill in and ability to participate as senior resource person in planning projects'' and an ''ability to assure that written and oral communications are bias-free and that diversity is respected and valued,'' the advertisement states. ...

How long will be before we see a federal agency under Obama consider creating, maybe actually hiring, an LGBT liaison?