Obama Names Lesbian To Employment Board

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President Barack Obama appointed a lesbian law professor to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Saturday.

According to the San Diego Gay & Lesbian News, using a constitutional provision known as a recess appointment, Obama put Chai Feldblum and three others to positions on the EEOC.

Feldblum and the others had been approved by a Senate committee in early December but their confirmation vote was put on indefinite hold by a lone Senate Republican.

In making the direct appointments for the EEOC, Obama also made 11 other recess appointments of nominees to “critical administration posts.” In a statement, the White House referred to “months of Republican obstruction” to nominees and noted that while the Senate has yet to approve 217 of Obama’s nominees, President Bush had only five still pending at this point in his first term.

Numerous right-wing groups voiced opposition to Feldblum shortly after she was nominated. The Traditional Values Coalition called Feldblum “yet another radical Obama nominee,” saying she would “use her power to strip nearly all First Amendment rights of freedom of expression/free exercise of religion from businesses.”

Concerned Women for America said Feldblum “represents one of the most serious threats to religious freedom we have seen in a long time.” And The Family Research Council said Feldblum “openly admitted to supporting polygamy.”

Some predicted that opposition would surface during her confirmation hearing in November. But it didn’t, at least in part because Tom Harkin, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which handled the nomination, met the controversy head on.

“Something has come to our attention here – a petition … that you signed onto” that expresses support for “committed loving households in which there are more than one conjugal partner,” Harkin said.
“That says polygamy to me,” Harkin said, noting that it is illegal in the United States and that, in the 20-plus years he has worked with her, he never knew she supported polygamy.

“I do not support polygamy,” Feldblum said. “I am sorry I signed that document and I have asked that my name be removed.”

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