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.

Gay equality & "the fierce urgency of whenever"

Andrew Sullivan gets the award for the line of the day. In describing the Obama Administration's stunning lack of action on rolling back "don't ask, don't tell," Sullivan notes that it amounts to "the fierce urgency of whenever." Sullivan also writes:

I wonder how Obama would have felt if Truman had followed the same path of cowardice and convenience in 1948, when racial integration was far more contentious in the military than gay integration is today.

Meanwhile, Marc Ambinder reports on the Obamites alleged plan for inching the nation towards equality. Ambinder includes the bombshell that Obama doesn't intend to even attempt repealing DADT until after the 2010 elections.

I pleaded for immediate action on DADT in a recent column. My next column talks about the real consequences of taking a "whenever" attitude. Here's a preview: The consequences have nothing to do with politics.