Petrelis Files

White House: Gays Get a Tour;
Indians Have a Meeting

(White House officials meeting on August 31 with Native American leaders at the Old Executive Office Building. Photo credit: Derek Baily, Tribal Chairman of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and their newsletter.)

Over at the Washington Blade, veteran reporter Lou Chibbaro wrote yesterday about a special tour of the White House on August 30 for LGBT leaders, which was arranged by openly gay administration official Brian Bond.

From the Blade story:

A White House spokesperson said the LGBT groups were among a wide range of constituency organizations that were invited by the administration to arrange for guests of their choosing to take the tour.

The guests of select LGBT groups visited the East Wing of the White House and saw the same ceremonial and historic rooms in a self-guided tour that the general public sees. Those who attended the tour said there were no Obama administration officials present.

“I’ve heard from a number of guests how pleased they were to be invited and how much they enjoyed the tour,” said Leslie Calman, executive director of the Mautner Project, a Washington-based lesbian health organization. [...]

Among the other LGBT groups invited by the White House to take their members and guests on the tour were the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign and Equality Maryland. [...]

“The Office of Public Engagement, through the cooperation of the Visitors Office, has reached out to a broad range of groups, individuals and agency staff to invite them to take a tour of the White House,” said White House spokesperson Shin Inouye.

Well, isn't that special? Another empty and symbolic gesture from the White House for the LGBT community. A tour for lots of friends of Brian Bond and DC-area groups, coming after a cocktail party for our community at the White House with the President and First Lady in June, and the signing by Mr. Obama of a memo giving gays in the federal workforce some changes they should have had long ago. Honestly, I can't recall the substance (?) of the memo, can you?

But that gay tour is not the point of this post. Instead, I want to call attention to a meeting held the day after the gay tour, with Native American leaders. From the Indian Country Today article:

When several tribal leaders trekked to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House grounds Aug. 31, it represented one of the rare times in American history when a cross-section of tribes were invited by a sitting president’s staff to conduct official business.

Administration officials, eager to highlight the nation-to-nation philosophy that President Barack Obama has espoused regarding tribes and the federal government, said the meeting was a first step in enhancing relations with tribes.

Shin Inouye, a spokesman for the White House, would not say precisely how many tribal leaders were invited. He described the meeting as a couple of “informal discussions.”

Congratulations to the Indians for scoring their meeting. It's a fine example we gays should emulate. And I do wonder if the administration has any plans to extend an invitation to LGBT leaders for similar discussions.

But the White House meeting is not the only thing the administration is delivering to the Native American communities:

While administration officials would not describe specific details of the meeting, Inouye did say the gathering was aimed at informing the administration’s agenda of what he called a “tribal nations conference” to be held at the White House in the future.

A gathering of tribal nations, which was promised by Obama during his campaign for president to be a yearly occurrence, is expected to take place sometime this fall, but the exact date has not yet been decided, Inouye said.

Bravo, to the Native Americans for having the power to persuade Obama to keep his promises made to them during the campaign. Sure would be great if the LGBT could be on equal footing, and also get such a meeting, one that was part of a broader agenda leading to a White House gay conference, and, just like the Native Americans, make sure such a conference is held annually.

What was on the agenda at the Indian meeting?

Oneida Nation representative Ray Halbritter attended the meeting and said tribal leaders spoke about sovereignty, taxation, land claims and other issues.

So important issues were discussed. Compare that to the gay tour where hundreds of gay leaders looked at the furniture and decorations. And who at the White House organized this meeting?

The White House Domestic Policy Council, which is aimed at providing policy advice to the president, and the Office of Public Engagement, which serves as an outreach vehicle for the White House, co-hosted the event, according to the letter [from Obama's top Indian adviser inviting Indians to the meeting.]

The public engagement office is where Brian Bond works, and I wonder why he and the office gave gays a tour, while Native Americans got a meeting. How about showing some equality in arranging sit down meetings from Bond and this office?

If we LGBT folks had effective leaders at our political advocacy groups based Washington, they would look at the August 31 White House meeting with Native Americans and publicly demand the same thing for our community. Lemme know when LGBT leaders get serious about pressing Obama and his administration to deliver on the promises made to us during the campaign.