It's Been A Great Week For Lesbians In Washington!

The week may have started out badly for President Obama-- who, in the light of some catastrophic vetting problems, may finally be thinking that he shouldn't have bought into the self-propagated hype about Rahm Emanuel's competence-- but it's been a fabulous week for lesbians. And I'm not even talking about the whispers that Senator Barbara Milkulski (D-MD) is the rumored top choice to replace Tom Daschle as Secretary of Health and Human Services. (We don't comment on rumors at DWT-- and we're still keeping our fingers crossed that Obama will do the right thing, ignore Emanuel's bitter, hate-blinded and wrong-headed advice, and pick Howard Dean for the job. I mean Emanuel should be vetting this kind of stuff, not keeping the nation's most successful bipartisan health care reformer from solving one of the nation's biggest problems.)

More noteworthy is the backroom deal that Obama made with New Hampshire political hacks Governor John Lynch and Senator Judd Gregg that led to the selection of Bonnie Newman as New Hampshire's new U.S. Senator. Like Washington and California, New Hampshire will now have two women senators-- if Gregg gets confirmed as Commerce Secretary-- and let's face it, no matter how corrupt or unqualified or ideologically unfit someone is for an appointment, if they are, or have ever been, a member of the world's most exclusive club, they are in. (Well... if they're a Republican.) Bonnie's in the closet though, like Barbara. This is the 21st century. Why are people in the closet?

At least Alison Nathan, who Obama chose Monday as a White House associate counsel, is completely out of the closet and living like a normal human being. She is a former clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and has been teaching at NYU's and Fordham's law schools. She worked for the Obama campaign as a national voter protection senior adviser and a member of his gay advisory committee.

I'm not sure if former DOJ employee Leslie Hagen is in the closet or not, but I do remember that when neo-Nazi little religious fanatic and partisan shit-for-brains Bushie, Monica Goodling, heard a rumor that Hagen was a lesbian, she fired her, quite illegally. Monday that travesty of justice at Justice got turned around. At least one part of the politicization of the Justice Department was been undone and Hagen is back at her post at the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys.

In 2006, Hagen was the liaison between the main Justice Department and the U.S. Attorneys' committee on Native American affairs. The chairman of that committee, Tom Heffelfinger, described Hagen to NPR last year as "the best qualified person in the nation to fill that job." Hagen's performance evaluations had the highest possible ratings--"outstanding" in each of five categories.

The job came up for renewal every year. After the first year, Hagen was surprised to hear that she would have to move on.

As NPR reported in April, a top aide to the attorney general had heard a rumor that Hagen was a lesbian. Discrimination based on sexual orientation is against Justice Department rules. But Monica Goodling, senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, had Hagen removed from her job anyway.

That was more than a year ago. The inspector general eventually confirmed the NPR report and added new details, saying Goodling not only ousted Hagen but also blocked Hagen from getting other Justice Department jobs she was qualified for.