a federally protected activity, such as attending school, for it to be a federal hate
crime. In signing the bill, President Obama said, “After more than a decade of oppo-
sition and delay, we’ve passed inclusive hate crimes legislation to help protect our
citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray or
who they are.”^57 The law commemorates the murders of James Byrd Jr., an African
American man who was dragged behind a pickup truck by three men believed to be
white supremacists (mentioned earlier), and Matthew Shepard, a gay teenager who
in 1998 was beaten by two men, tied to a fence, and left to die. Also, the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination in employment
based on sexual orientation, has been proposed in nearly every Congress since- A version of the bill passed the House in 2007 but died in the Senate. Presi-
dent Obama supports it, but it is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled House.
The Executive Arena
The civil rights movement has benefi ted greatly from presidential action, such
as President Truman’s integration of the armed services in 1948 and President
Eisenhower’s use of the National Guard to enforce a court order to integrate a
school in Arkansas in 1957. Executive orders by presidents Kennedy and Johnson
in 1961 and 1965, respectively, established affi rmative action; and in 1969 Richard
Nixon expanded the “goals and numerical ranges” for hiring minorities.
The most signifi cant action by a president in the area of civil rights for gay men
and lesbians was President Clinton’s eff ort to end the ban on homosexuals in the
military. Under his policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the military would stop actively
searching for and discharging homosexuals from the military ranks, and recruits
would not need to reveal their sexual orientation. However, if without an investi-
gation the military found out a person was gay, he or she still could be disciplined
or discharged. Subsequently President Obama promised to repeal “don’t ask, don’t
tell,” and under his administration Congress passed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Repeal Act of 2010.” The repeal went into eff ect on September 20, 2011. Minutes
afterward, Navy Lt. Gary Ross and his long-term partner were married in Ver-
mont to become the fi rst openly gay married person in the military.^58
The low priority that recent presidential candidates have given to civil rights
policy more generally means that it is less likely that signifi cant and dramatic
cha nge will come from unilatera l action by the president. Instead, attention to civil
rights concerns in the executive branch has primarily been in two areas since
1993: racial diversity in presidential appointments and use of the bully pulpit
to promote racial concerns and interests.
President Clinton was active on both dimensions. His cabinet, subcabinet,
and judicial appointments achieved the greatest gender and racial balance in
history. Fourteen percent of Clinton’s fi rst-year presidential appointments
were African American (compared to 12 percent of the population in 1992),
6 percent were Hispanic (compared to 9.5 percent of the population), and
the percentages of Asian American and Native American appointees were
identical to their proportions in the population. (The proportion of women
appointees—27 percent—was well short of their proportion in the popu-
lation, but it still was a record high.) Clinton also used the bully pulpit to
advocate a civil rights agenda focusing on problems faced by minorities.
President George W. Bush did not achieve the same level of diver-
sity in his appointments as Clinton, but his administration was more
diverse than that of other Republican presidents. Moreover, BushIN 2011, THE U.S. MILITARY REPEALED
its controversial “don’t ask, don’t
tell” policy, which prevented gay
men and lesbians from serving
openly in the armed forces. At
midnight on September 20, 2011,
as the repeal formally took effect,
Navy Lieutenant Gary Ross (right)
married his longtime partner, Dan
Swezy.