Appoint Openly Gay Fred Hochberg Commerce Secretary

Want to help shatter a glass ceiling? Give just 2 minutes a day to call and email the Obama transition and you can do just that. Equal Rep is putting on its third campaign to urge President-elect Obama to appoint Fred Hochberg the next Secretary of Commerce.

In more than 200 years, the United States Cabinet has never included an openly gay member. Growing national focus on GLBT civil rights has therefore made the Secretary of Commerce appointment a national issue in the struggle for equal representation.

Fred Hochberg is the most qualified candidate for the job. Hochberg has more than 25 years of experience in business, government, civil rights activities, and philanthropy. From 1998 through 2000, he served as deputy then acting administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), an agency elevated to cabinet rank by President Bill Clinton, with more than 4,000 employees and 100 offices across the country. At the SBA, he directed the delivery of a comprehensive set of financial and business development programs for entrepreneurs, with particular outreach to women and minorities. He also served on President Clinton's Management Council.

From 1994 to 1998, Fred Hochberg worked as founder and president of Heyday Company, a private investment firm managing real estate, stock market investments, and venture capital projects. Prior to that, he was president and chief operating officer of the Lillian Vernon Corporation, where he led the transformation of a small family mail order company into a publicly traded direct marketing corporation, one of the great success stories of American entrepreneurship.

"It was devastating to learn that gay Americans wouldn't have a seat at the table within Barack Obama's Cabinet administration. They are the only minority group to have never been appointed in the history of the United States." said Paul Sousa, Equal Rep founder. "Hochberg is supremely qualified and this opening is the perfect opportunity for our President-elect to show gay Americans they have not been forgotten and he is truly committed to equal representation."

Phone Obama: 202-540-3000, press "2"
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Join the facebook event, invite your friends, and plan on giving the Obama administration a friendly daily nudge to put his call of change into action. Here's to hoping that Fred Hochberg is the next Secretary of Commerce!

Call to Action: Appoint Out Lesbian As Secretary of Labor

So what are you up to next week on December 17-19? How about helping to shatter a glass ceiling? This week, EQUAL REP was formed calling on people across the nation to urge President-elect Obama to appoint Mary Beth Maxwell the next Secretary of Labor.

In more than 200 years, the United States States Cabinet has never included an openly gay member. Growing national focus on GLBT civil rights has therefore made the Secretary of Labor appointment a national issue in the struggle for equal representation.

Maxwell is being closely considered for the position and she is highly qualified. She is the founding Executive Director of American Rights at Work, a national advocacy organization launched in 2003 whose mission is to modernize and reform the labor laws of our nation to better meet the needs of 21st century employers and workers. She is a longtime activist for better collective bargaining rules and a big proponent of the Employee Free Choice Act. She's a vocal progressive and would make a fantastic Secretary of Labor.

In a short amount of time, Maxwell has also earned the endorsements of the AFL-CIO, Change to Win Federation, the CEO and President of American Income Life Insurance, and the Human Rights Campaign just to name a few.

"Not only is Mary Beth Maxwell highly qualified, but she is openly gay too which is icing on the cake," says Paul Sousa, EQUAL REP founder. "With 2008 being such a historic year for shattering glass ceilings, now is the time to shatter one more for gay Americans and equal representation."

Equal Rep is urging us to take 5 minutes: leave a phone message and an email for the President-elect. Tell Obama why this is important to you. Then forward this link to your friends and ask them to do the same. We need everyone to get involved to make a collective impact.

Phone Obama: 866.675.2008
Email Obama