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Clinton appoints first openly gay ambassador
June 4, 1999 WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, June 4) -- President Bill Clinton Friday used his recess appointment privilege to name James Hormel as ambassador to Luxembourg. Clinton's move was in direct defiance of the Senate's GOP leadership who have refused to confirm Hormel because he is openly gay. The recess appointment is a constitutional device that becomes available to the president if an appointment is made while Congress is in recess. Both the House and the Senate return from their 10-day Memorial Day holiday on Monday. Under the recess appointment, Hormel, 66, will be able to serve until the end of 2000, when the 106th Congress adjourns. All of Clinton's ambassadorial appointments expire at the end of his term in January 2001. Hormel, who will become the first openly gay U.S. ambassador, was originally nominated to the post in 1997. Although the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the nomination and his supporters claim they had the votes in the full Senate to confirm the appointment, the conservative GOP leadership, including Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, refused to allow the matter to come to a floor vote in the 105th Congress. But saying he hoped "fairness will prevail," Clinton renominated Hormel, heir to the Hormel food fortune, in January 1999. A spokesman for Lott, called the recess appointment "a slap in the face to Catholics everywhere," citing Lott's concern about Hormel's support for anti-Catholic groups including a group of drag queens who dress as nuns. White House spokesman Barry Toiv said Hormel doesn't support "any such group. The idea ... is outrageous and is false." Opponents of the nomination also worry that Hormel will use his position to advocate gay rights. Family Research Council, a conservative religious group, issued a statement Friday saying Clinton had given Hormel "a government-sanctioned platform" to "advance the gay agenda." Andrea Sheldon, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, accused Hormel Friday of being "a purveyor of smut" and of "cheering on child molesters and transvestite nuns." But both Democratic senators from Hormel's homestate of California applauded the president's actions. "The president did, I think, the honorable thing to break this log jam," said Dianne Feinstein. A longtime friend of Hormel, Feinstein said: "He will serve honorably. He will serve with distinction and he will serve very well." Barbara Boxer pointed to the appointment as a victory against discrimination. "The reason those holds were placed on Hormel ... was because he is a homosexual. That is the only reason. This country can't move in that direction." Hormel, who is also a former dean at the University of Chicago Law School, has been a member of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva and was previously confirmed by the Senate to serve on the U.S. delegation to the U.N. General Assembly session in 1996. The Associated Press contributed to this report. MORE STORIES:Friday, June 4, 1999
• Political Play of the Week: Forbes' new ads • Hillary Clinton confirms plans for exploratory committee • Helms schedules hearing for Holbrooke, blames White House for delay • Clinton appoints first openly gay ambassador • Republicans react to Belgrade's acceptance of peace plan • Closing out longest-running independent counsel inquiry • Analysis: Clinton's fortunes suddenly rising with apparent Kosovo outcome • Congressional investigators begin wading through Olympic records • Clinton says gun controls could take years • Social Security becoming key issue in presidential campaign • Rivlin's departure leaves Clinton with two openings at Fed |