Washington Blade - January 16, 2009
Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Dybul, who holds the rank of a U.S. ambassador, became one of President Bush's highest-ranking gay appointees in 2006, when Bush named him as acting head of the Global AIDS office. Five months later, he became the office's permanent head.

News of Obama's decision to retain Dybul surfaced Jan. 9, when Dybul sent an e-mail message informing his staff that he would be staying in his job for an undetermined period in the new administration.

"I wanted to let you know that I have been asked to rescind my resignation, so I will be continuing in the coordinator position beyond the Inauguration," Dybul said in his e-mail message to his staff. The Washington Post obtained a copy of the e-mail and published it Monday.

Last week, the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, an advocacy group that is helping Obama identify qualified gays for administration jobs, disclosed that gay businessman Fred Hochberg would be named chair of the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

Obama has also decided on the appointment of a gay Democratic Party insider and member of his presidential campaign staff, Brian Bond, as deputy director of the White House Public Liaison office. The Advocate reported that Bond's duties would include working on issues of concern to the gay and transgender communities.

In yet another development, reports surfaced this week that Obama would name John Berry, the gay director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo, as head of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

OPM oversees the 2 million members of the civilian federal workforce and plays a role in enforcing policies put in place under the Clinton administration that prohibit job discrimination against federal workers based on sexual orientation.

Berry served as assistant secretary for policy, management and budget at the Department of Interior under the Clinton administration. He later served as executive director of the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation before becoming head of the National Zoo.

Activists hail appointments

Prominent gay activists welcomed the appointments of Hochberg and other openly gay people to key positions within the new administration.

"This is very good news," said Chuck Wolfe, president of the Victory Fund, in commenting on Hochberg's appointment.

"Fred Hochberg's talent and business acumen will serve U.S. companies well," Wolfe said. "But he will also set an important example as an openly gay person in a top leadership position in the business community."

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said that Hochberg would play an important role on Obama's economic team.

"Fred is one of the most highly qualified and experienced public servants in our community and the fact that President-elect Obama has tapped him for such an important economic position speaks well for the LGBT community," Solmonese said.

The Export-Import Bank, a government-chartered institution, serves as the official export credit agency of the United States, according to the bank's web site. Its mission is to "assist in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets."

Hochberg served from 1975 to 1993 as president and CEO of the New York-based Lillian Vernon Corporation, a multi-million dollar direct-marking firm. He has been credited with transforming the firm from a family-owned catalog mail-order business started by his mother into a publicly traded corporation that Forbes magazine described as "one of the great success stories of American entrepreneurship."

More recently, Hochberg was dean of the Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management & Urban Policy, based in New York City.

Bond, who began his work as a Democratic Party activist in his home state of Missouri, served as head of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund from 1997 to 2003. He later served in several positions at the Democratic National Committee, such as the DNC's outreach director for gay issues.

Earlier this year, Obama named him as director of constituency outreach for the Obama presidential campaign, where Bond coordinated outreach efforts to various constituent groups, including gays.

In his new White House job, Bond will be second in command at the Public Liaison office, which is charged with keeping constituency groups informed of presidential policies and initiatives. The office is also charged with informing the president of the concerns and opinions of various constituency groups on problems and issues that affect them.

Although Bond reportedly will be in charge of informing the new president about the views and concerns of the gay and transgender community, it could not be immediately determined whether he will be designated as the official White House gay liaison.

During his tenure in the White House, President Clinton named one of his closet political advisers, Arkansas native Marsha Scott, as the first White House liaison to the gay community. Clinton later appointed gay Democratic activist and attorney Richard Socarides as the White House gay liaison.

Toward the end of his second term, Clinton named lesbian Democratic activist Julian Potter to the gay liaison post.

Socarides, who is currently practicing law in New York, said that while he, Potter and Scott had other responsibilities at the White House, their role as gay liaison was clearly established at the time of their appointment.

"Brian is terrific," Socarides said. "He will be a great assistant to the president. But what we don't know is who will be responsible for policy formulation on gay issues and what their rank and stature will be."

Bond's expected appointment as deputy director of the Public Liaison office has triggered speculation among activists as to whether Obama would appoint someone else as the White House's gay liaison or whether Bond will become an unofficial "gay liaison."

Jeff Soref, a veteran Democratic Party activist and Democratic fundraiser from New York who served in the past as a member of the DNC, said Bond has the potential to take the White House gay liaison position to a new level of influence within the Obama administration.

"Given Brian's senior position at the White House, he will be at the policy meetings, where he can bring up GLBT issues," Soref said. "As the deputy director, he will have a place at the table. So it would seem that this gives us more access than we had before."

Neither Bond nor Hochberg could immediately be reached for comment.

Some groups sought replacement for Dybul

In his role as Global AIDS Coordinator, Dybul, a physician, has been in charge of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, a multi-billion dollar program to fight AIDS in developing countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. The program enjoys widespread bipartisan support and is considered one of Bush's most successful initiatives.

But a number of AIDS and reproductive rights groups have urged Obama to replace Dybul with someone the groups see as more likely to change the Bush administration's insistence that at least some international AIDS relief funds be linked to abstinence-only programs.

Among the groups calling on Obama to replace Dybul as AIDS coordinator are the International Women's Health Coalition and the Sexuality Information & Education Council of the United States, which advocates, among other things, for gay-sensitive sex education programs.

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