Barack Obama’s decision to have a prominent gay bishop open his inaugural festivities Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial is the latest in a series of moves that have heartened gay rights advocates smarting over evangelical pastor Rick Warren’s prime spot at the swearing-in ceremony next week.
The families accompanying Obama on a train ride here from Philadelphia on Sunday include a lesbian couple. Nancy Sutley, a Los Angeles deputy mayor who is gay, has been named to head the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Gay advocates say they believe more gay appointments are in the offing.
Incoming White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, though he didn’t give a time frame, recently told a questioner at www.change.gov that Obama plans to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that requires gay members of the military to hide their sexual orientation.
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