John Berry, the federal government’s highest-ranking openly gay presidential appointee, says ending discrimination in the workplace should be the top priority of LGBT voters.  Although Berry does not advocate for any less vigilance on other LGBT rights issues – such as repealing DADT and DOMA – he recently expressed a need to focus now on ENDA, which he says is  within “spitting-distance” of the necessary votes to pass in Congress. The Washington Blade reported Berry’s comments:

“The most important thing we can do right now is we got to … secure the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act — and it’s got to include full transgender protections,” Berry said. “I believe that if we all concentrate our efforts where it needs to be concentrated, which is on the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, we can get the job done.”

Other pro-LGBT legislation can be more easily achieved, Berry said, if Congress were to pass ENDA.

Berry is director of the US Office of Personnel Management, the most influential position held by an LGBT politico in the Obama Administration. Berry was recomended by the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute’s Presidential Appointments Project, which seeks to increase LGBT representation in the Executive Branch.