President Barack Obama has announced Jeremy Bernard will become the first man, and the first openly gay person to fill the demanding job.

“Jeremy shares our vision for the White House as the People’s House, one that celebrates our history and culture in dynamic and inclusive ways.  We look forward to Jeremy continuing to showcase America’s arts and culture to our nation and the world through the many events at the White House,” Obama said in a statement.

Bernard, a former Victory Fund board member, currently serves as Senior Advisor to the Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy of Paris.  He served as the White House Liaison to the National Endowment for the Humanities from 2008 to 2010.  Previously, Bernard was a California Finance Consultant for the Obama for American campaign.

President Obama has appointed more openly LGBT Americans to his administration than any president in U.S. history, often with the assistance of the LGBT community’s Presidential Appointments Project, which is headed by the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute.

In a recent interview with the website ThinkBig.com, the former president equated gay rights to civil rights and said the nation is ready for an openly gay president.

“Step by step, we have realized that this issue of homosexuality has the same adverse and progressive elements as when we dealt with the race issue 50 years ago, 40 years ago,” Carter, 86, said in the eleven-minute-twenty-one-second videotaped interview.

“So I would say the country is getting acclimated to a president who might be female, who might obviously now be black and who might be as well a gay person.”

“I think the entire population of America has come tremendous strides forward in dealing with the issue of gays. And I would say that the answer is yes. I don’t know about the next election, but I think in the near future.”

But Barney Frank, the longest-serving openly gay representative, disagreed.

“It’s one thing to have a gay person in the abstract,” Frank told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. “It’s another to see that person as part of a living, breathing couple. How would a gay presidential candidate have a celebratory kiss with his partner after winning the New Hampshire primary? The sight of two women kissing has not been as distressful to people as the sight of two men kissing.”

Dowd went on to suggest that an openly gay president remains a long-shot.

“There are no openly gay senators, governors, cabinet members or Supreme Court justices,” she wrote. “There are four openly gay Democratic House members, once David Cicilline of Rhode Island gets sworn in.”

But the always informed Dowd neglected to mention that an openly gay presidential candidate is already being cued up. And he’s a Republican, to boot.

Fred Karger, the activist behind boycotts against big donors to California’s gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, announced his plans during April’s Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC) in New Orleans.

Karger said he didn’t believe a gay president was such an outlandish idea. “President Carter’s comments are in line with national polls that show a half of Americans agree that the country is ready for an openly gay president,” Karger said.

Gay marriage rights

From the NY Times:

An Argentine couple’s attempt to unite in Latin America’s first gay marriage was thwarted Tuesday when city officials decided to block the wedding because of conflicting judicial rulings.

Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre showed up at the Buenos Aires civil registry office despite a national judge’s ruling late Monday that overturned a city court’s decision to permit them to wed. The first judge ruled again Tuesday that they could wed.

The couple, dressed in black suits, silver ties and a red band symbolizing AIDS awareness, waited for hours in the municipal office as officials debated which judge to obey. They were surrounded by supporters and a swarm of media.

”It’s hard to have to spend this day waiting for a right that should have been ours,” said Freyre, as he fought to hold back tears.

In a twist of events, the final decision fell to Mayor Mauricio Macri, who had originally given the green light to the wedding. Among cheers and chants in what felt like the final seconds of championship game, the lawyers came out to announce the news: The city would not allow the marriage until the Supreme Court has ruled on the case.

Gay rights groups expressed anger at the decision and said they would march to city hall in protest.

Source Text:

www.gayagenda.com