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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.
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