May 07, 2004  |  By: ADRIAN BRUNE  | COMMENTS     

As he approached Capitol Hill on the evening of April 28 for a gay and lesbian reception, Chris Barron expected to eventually find it in a cloistered corner of the Russell Senate Office Building with little pomp or circumstance.

But climbing the stairs to SR-385 with the other 50 or so attendees, Barron, the legislative director of the Log Cabin Republicans, noticed the stately flags adorning the large, paneled doors. Walking through them, he saw gay Hill staffers and their supporters — including several members of Congress — mingling over drinks in a decorous room with vaulted ceilings typically reserved for key Senate hearings.

As he entered the inaugural event for the Gays, Lesbians & Allies Senate Staff (GLASS) Caucus, Barron said he knew gay staffers had prominently arrived in some of the nation’s most important halls.

“I remember coming up, I thought ‘Where exactly will this be tucked away,’” Barron told a buttoned-down contingent of federal employees. “Then I saw Room 385, and I didn’t think it could possibly be here. But it is.

“We have come a long way. It is extremely courageous and important what you’re doing by just standing here.”

For more than a decade, a gay and lesbian professional association has met regularly on the House side of Congress to raise the visibility and awareness of gay congressional employees. Inspired by that group’s success and prompted by the Federal Marriage Amendment, two staffers — a young man from a voluble Democrat’s office, and a long-term administrative director for a conservative Republican — decided to establish a sister organization across the Hill.

GLASS co-founder Lynden Armstrong, an employee of Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), said that he has received significant support for the GLASS Caucus from members, including his own, who backed the FMA, but is “supportive of my professional development as an employee.” However, Armstrong acknowledged that many other Republican staffers “have been reserved about getting involved.

“When they see that it’s not an activist organization, I believe they will be more inclined to join,” he said.

No political or federal organization keeps statistics on the number of gay men and lesbians currently working for Congress. Those who have publicly come out say they believe the numbers are much higher than estimated, and that many gay staffers still fear termination or ostracism if they declare their orientation.

“There are hundreds of gay and lesbian staffers here; it’s just a matter of letting people know there is a supportive network,” said Mat Young, the Democratic half behind the GLASS Caucus and a legislative aide to Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). “They need to know that they can be openly gay and still have a successful career in Congress.”

While appearances by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), as well as progressive Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) lend legitimacy to the GLASS Caucus, they don’t speak for the other senators with a history of intolerance.

Over the past decade, several have publicly indicated their refusal to hire gay or lesbian staffers, including Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), according to Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call. Others have made other disparaging remarks, comparing homosexuality to kleptomania in the case of former Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) in 1998, and equating it to bigamy and incest, as Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) did in a 2003 Associated Press interview.