This afternoon the White House announced President Barack Obama has made recess appointments of four nominees whose confirmations were being held up in the Senate.  Among them is Richard Sorian, an openly gay man who will be the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services.

“At a time when our nation faces so many pressing challenges, I urge members of the Senate to stop playing politics with our highly qualified nominees, and fulfill their responsibilities of advice and consent,” President Obama said in a release this afternoon. “Until they do, I reserve the right to act within my authority to do what is best for the American people.”

Obama has appointed hundreds of openly LGBT staff to his administration, with many recommended by the Presidential Appointments Project, the LGBT community’s effort to increase the number of out presidential appointees.

From the White House announcement:

Richard Sorian, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services

Richard Sorian is currently a Senior Adviser to the Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services.  Previously, he was Vice President for Public Policy and External Relations for the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), where he directed the organization’s media relations, policy development and advocacy, and relations with employers, consumers, and other key stakeholders. Before working for NCQA, Sorian was Director of Public Affairs for the Center for Studying Health System Change and a Project Director at the Georgetown University Institute for Health Care Research and Policy. From 1993 to 1998, Sorian was a Senior Advisor for Health Policy Communications in the Office of Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna E. Shalala. In that capacity, Sorian focused on health care reform, HIV/AIDS policy, and health care quality improvement. From1997 to 1998, he served as Deputy Director of the President’s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry, where he directed work on the Patient’s Bill of Rights. From 1980 to 1993, Sorian was an award-winning journalist covering U.S. health care policy development. He was editor of Medicine & Health and the Journal of American Health Policy. He is also the author of three books: The Bitter Pill: Tough Choice in America’s Health Policy (1989); A New Deal for American Health Care (1993); and The Health Care 500 (1988). He is a graduate of George Washington University and, in 1989, was awarded a fellowship for Advanced Studies in Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

President Obama has already appointed more openly LGBT staffers to his administration than the administrations of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton combined, according to Shin Inouye, director of specialty media in the White House communications office.

Inouye made the observation at a panel discussion about LGBT presidential appointees held last night at the National Press Club in Washington.  The discussion was sponsored by the National Gay & Lesbian Journalists Association and the Washington Blade.

Other appointees on the panel included  Elaine Kaplan (pictured), General Counsel at the Office of Personnel Management, and Matt Nosanchuk, Senior Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.

Kaplan, who also worked in the Clinton administration, noted a different atmosphere for LGBT appointees under President Obama.  ”There are a lot more of us and at higher levels,” Kaplan said.  Inouye and Nosanchuck agreed LGBT staff were fully integrated into the administration at all levels, and that their presence meant that policy decisions more often take into account the possible affects on LGBT people and their families.

Nosanchuk pointed out that many out appointees came to the attention of administration officials through the LGBT community’s Presidential Appointments Project, a coalition effort of some 16 national LGBT groups that’s coordinated by the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute.

“This has always been the point of the Project–to make sure LGBT voices and perspectives are heard at the highest levels of the U.S. government,” said George Walker, a vice president at  GLLI.

Samir Luther recently joined the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute as the Project’s director.

Laura Duffy is the new U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California in San Diego.  The full Senate confirmed her appointment Friday.

Duffy, an out lesbian, is known for her successful efforts fighting drug cartels that operate on the U.S.-Mexican border.  Her prosecution of Tijuana’s Arellano Felix cartel resulted in a life sentence for its leader, a notorious drug kingpin.

President Obama has appointed more than 100 LGBT Americans to administration roles so far, with about two dozen of those requiring Senate confirmation.  Obama is on track to appoint more LGBT Americans than any president in history.

The Presidential Appointments Project is helping qualified LGBT candidates who want to serve their country in the executive branch.  For more information about the Project, go here.

If you’ve heard the name Samir Luther, it’s likely because of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s excellent Workplace Project, one of the community’s most successful efforts to engage corporate America in the fight for LGBT equality.  Luther is currently its Associate Director and works with business leaders and LGBT workplace advocates across the country to implement inclusive policies and practices, from non-discrimination policies to transgender-inclusive health insurance.

After six years advancing workplace equality at HRC, Luther has agreed to take on a new challenge as Director of the Presidential Appointments Project at the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute.

The Project, a collaborative effort of some 16 national LGBT organizations, has seen President Obama appoint more than 100 openly LGBT Americans to his administration, including 25 at a level requiring confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

In all, nearly 2,000 people have applied for appointments through the Project since its inception in 2008.  As Program Director, Luther will manage the relationship between the Project’s applicants and the White House, as well as the expansion of the Project’s recruitment efforts to volunteer opportunities on federal panels, boards and commissions.

George Walker, a vice president at GLLI, said Luther’s experience among American businesses makes him a perfect fit for the job.  ”Samir has been a champion for fairness and equality in front of powerful corporations.  He has the skills and networks necessary to promote our community’s best and brightest as we seek to increase the number of LGBT voices in federal government,” Walker said.

“I look forward to expanding opportunities for LGBT professionals to give back to their country and advance equality,” said Luther.  He starts Monday, June 7.

Learn more about the Presidential Appointments Project here.

Judge Marisa Demeo, one of President Barack Obama’s first openly LGBT appointees, was confirmed by the Senate last night for seat on the D.C. Superior Court.  Demeo has waited for more than a year while her nomination was held up in an effort led by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.

According to On Top Magazine, Demeo was the subject of a smear letter warning of her supposed radical lesbian agenda:

In a letter by the socially conservative group Traditional Values Coalition, senators were urged to reject Demeo because she’s openly gay. The letter, obtained by the progressive website ThinkProgress.org, was published Tuesday.

“As an open, radical lesbian, Demeo has openly condemned the effort to amend our Constitution to protect marriage as a one-man, one-woman union,” the group wrote. “Demeo supports gay marriage, claiming it is a constitutional right. She also claims that LGBT individuals are equal to racial minorities and can claim protection as minorities under our civil rights laws.”

The group went on to call Demeo “dangerous to our nation” and would “destroy traditional marriage through her edicts.”

Demeo, who has advocated for both Hispanic and LGBT causes, has been a D.C. magistrate judge since 2007.  She was recommended for appointment by the Presidential Appointments Project, a joint effort of a dozen national LGBT groups led by the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute.

President Obama has appointed more than 100 openly LGBT Americans to serve in his administration, including 25 to positions requiring Senate confirmation.  Five of those nominees are still waiting to be confirmed.