By CHRIS JOHNSON, Washington Blade
Apr 6 2009, 4:01 PM |
|  | 
President Obama has selected a gay man and Human Rights Campaign staffer to serve on his Advisory Council on Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships.
Harry Knox, the new appointee, was among the eight people announced Monday who are on the now 25-member council. Knox said he was “humbled by the invitation” in a statement.
“I hope this council will draw upon the richness of our unique perspectives to advise the president on policies that will improve the lives of all the people we have been called to serve,” he said.
“The [LGBT] community is eager to help the administration achieve its goals around economic recovery and fighting poverty; fatherhood and healthy families; inter-religious dialogue; care for the environment; and global poverty, health and development.”
The group is charged with being a federal resource for secular and faith-based community organizations, as well as helping groups increase their impact and understand their obligations under the law, according to a White House statement.
Knox is not the only gay man on the council. In February, Obama selected Fred Davie to serve on the group. Davie is gay and president of Public/Private Ventures, an organization that helps low-income families.
But the council also has some members who are considered anti-gay, such as Joel Hunter, a Florida church pastor who once headed the Christian Coalition, and Rev. Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners magazine and a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage.
Obama also reportedly invited to serve on the group Tony Dungy, a former coach for the Indianapolis Colts who helped raise money for the Indiana Family Institute and a state constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. But White House spokesperson Shin Inouye said Dungy had instead signed on as an adviser to Obama for responsible father initiatives.
Knox is director of HRC’s Religion & Faith Program. He joined the organization in 2005.
HRC’s web site credits him with creating a national speakers’ bureau and a weekly preaching resource that provides commentary to people interested in LGBT perspectives on the Bible. He also helped to create a national network for 22 progressive state clergy coalitions, HRC says.
Knox held previous positions at Equality Florida, Georgia Equality and Freedom to Marry. He is a former licensed pastor of a United Methodist Church in Georgia.
|
