The US Justice Department, which has historically kept clear of LGBT rights issues, may be making an about face, according to assistant attorney general Tom Perez.  Perez, who heads the Department’s Civil Rights Division, advocated for a “21st century” approach to civil rights, which meant including protections for “our LGBT brothers and sisters.”

The Associated Press reports on Perez’s comments:

“We must fight for fairness and basic equality for our LGBT brothers and sisters who so frequently are being left in the shadows,” he said, and to “ensure that there’s a level playing field in which our LGBT brothers and sisters are judged by the content of their character.”

The move has been met with criticism from anti-gay organizations such as Focus on the Family, whose senior director said that “The rights of people of faith who adhere to a biblical view of sexuality should not be crushed under the Obama administration’s political promises to homosexual activists.”