Groups Blast Obama's Appointment of Gay Activist
Conservative and Christian groups are increasingly voicing opposition to President Obama's recent recess appointment of a homosexual activist to his administration.
Chai Feldblum, a lesbian Georgetown University Law Center professor, was appointed over the weekend as commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
"She is way beyond what most Americans would consider mainstream," said Shari Rendall, director of Legislation and Public Policy at Concerned Women for America, in a statement Tuesday.
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Feldblum, who was nominated by Obama in September, is the primary author of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would make it illegal for employers to make decisions on hiring, firing, promoting or paying an employee based on sexual orientation.
Religious employers have argued that they themselves would be discriminated against under ENDA.
Gay rights groups praised the appointment of Feldblum. Opponents, meanwhile, maintain that the openly lesbian professor "would not be impartial in her decision-making process."
"From her own account, Feldblum would have a difficult time ever deciding that religious liberties should trump homosexual rights," said Rendall.
Feldblum has acknowledged the conflict that exists between "laws intended to protect the liberty of LGBT people ... and the religious beliefs of some individuals whose conduct is regulated by such laws."
But in such conflicts, she said society should side with the liberty of LGBT people over the liberty of the religious.
She was willing to make a very limited exception to ENDA, specifically for "enterprises that are engaged in by ... religious belief communities that are specifically designed to inculcate values in the next generation."
"We want to change the American workforce and revolutionize social norms," she said earlier. "Our current public policies undermine the moral and political unit of same-sex couples and families and that's a moral wrong that needs to be rectified."
Feldblum, who has been fighting for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) rights for the last 20 years and supports polyamory, believes it is only a matter of time before America enters an "era of full LGBT liberty."
Other groups that have publicly denounced the appointment of Feldblum include the Traditional Values Coalition and Family Research Council.
Obama made 15 appointments to his administration over the weekend when Congress began its Easter recess, bypassing the normal confirmation process. Recess appointees serve through the end of the current Congress unless they receive Senate confirmation.
