John Berry is sworn in. Now what for Gay America?

Atlantic blogger Marc Ambinder claimed earlier this month that the moment openly gay John Berry became the federal government's top human resources director, the Obama Administration would finally get off it's collective rear end and start moving on LGBT issues.

Berry was sworn in yesterday as director of the Office of Personnel Management with First Lady Michelle Obama in attendance. Now what? Was Ambinder's report right? Actually, we now know that his original report was wrong, at least on one tiny detail. Ambinder wrote that anonymous sources told him:

As soon as the Senate confirms John Berry to head the Office of Personnel Management, Obama intends to sign an executive order strengthening workplace protections for the LGBT community.

The Senate confirmed Berry three weeks ago. What did we hear from the Obama Administration on LGBT issues? Silence.

Will the now confirmed, sworn-in presence of the highest ranking openly gay person in the administration make a difference?

Stay tuned.

Obama's lesbian and gay scorecard

Now we're cooking. Barack Obama has named, or is reported to be naming, what may well be the largest number of openly lesbian and gay officials in presidential history. My count is now at nine.

In the order of when their appointment was unveiled, with the most recent at the top, these people include:

• Karine Jean-Pierre as White House liaison to the Department of Labor
• Dave Noble as White House’s liaison to NASA
• David Medina as deputy chief of staff for Michelle Obama.
• John Berry as director of the Office of Personnel Management.
• Mark Dybul, a Bush appointee who will stay on as the global AIDS ambassador
• Fred Hochberg as head of the Export-Import Bank of the United States
• Brian Bond as the deputy director of the White House Office of the Public Liaison
• Brad Kiley as the director of the Office of Management and Administration
• Nancy Sutley as chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.