Photo: Gautam Raghavan. Credit: Department of Labor.
Gautam Raghavan, the White House’s LGBT liaison, will leave the Obama administration after more than five years to join the Gill Foundation as vice president of policy.
Raghavan, who is gay, departs the White House after three years. Previously, he served as Deputy White House Liaison for the Department of Defense and as the Outreach Lead for the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Working Group.
“As I make this transition, I find myself more hopeful than ever that big change (yes, the kind we can believe in!) is possible – because I’ve seen it happen,” Raghavan wrote in an email. “This kind of change can sometimes be slow, challenging, and frustrating. But when fierce advocates, unyielding activists, dedicated public servants, and strong allies work together, we can – and will – bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice.”
Raghavan’s last day at the White House is Friday. He will join the Gill Foundation on Monday. “I’m looking forward to joining a creative and innovative team dedicated to advancing equality for the LGBT community, nationally and in the states,” he said.
White House spokesperson Shin Inouye provided no timetable for naming Raghavan’s replacement. In the meantime, Monique Dorsainvil will serve in Raghavan’s place. Dorsainvil serves as the Director of Planning and Events for the Office of Public Engagement and the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Previously, she served as a staff assistant in the Office of Public Engagement working on the White House Council on Women and Girls and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Outreach.
“We deeply appreciate Gautam’s work with the AAPI and LGBT communities on behalf of the White House Office of Public Engagement and wish him all the best in his next steps,” Inouye told Metro Weekly.
Raghavan’s departure comes after LGBT-rights advocates secured one of their final requests from President Barack Obama earlier this summer. On July 21, Obama signed an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from LGBT workplace discrimination and protecting transgender federal employees from discrimination, marking the end of a long campaign by LGBT-rights advocates to convince Obama to take such executive actions.
Yeshiva University announced that it had reached a settlement with an LGBTQ student-run club that the university, for years, had refused to recognize as an official campus organization.
In the surprise move, the Orthodox Jewish educational institution said that it would end litigation related to its refusal to recognize the group, which it initially claimed was due to religious objections.
As part of the settlement, the club -- formerly known as the Yeshiva University Pride Alliance -- would be renamed "Hareni" and would be allowed to operate with the same rights and privileges guaranteed to other student groups.
Put on your ruby slippers to strut down the red carpet as we ask what queerness means for Academy Awards voters past and present.
By Paul Klein
March 1, 2025
On March 2, Hollywood's elite will gather at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles for the glitziest night of the year -- The 97th Academy Awards. When the Oscar-cast goes live on ABC Sunday evening -- and, for the first time ever, simultaneously streams on Hulu -- seven LGBTQ individuals will sit in hushed anticipation at the possibility of winning Hollywood's highest honors.
For a body often criticized for its lack of diversity and inclusivity, and with the arts under a prolonged political attack from far-right politicians, Sunday night offers a number of potentially groundbreaking moments for queer representation in front of and behind the screen.
Rabbits, as well as other animals -- peacocks, hamsters, and cats -- dominate her work, which is typified by a vast range of emotions, from aggressive to melancholic to serene.
"I'm always going for some kind of loud sort of expression," she says. "My illustrations tend to be very suggestive or very erotic or very cute. It's always about some kind of sensual pleasure or dramatic pain."
A librarian by trade -- she currently works at the National Institute of Medicine -- Soltian nonetheless treats her art as a full-time vocation. Her online store, which describes her as a "crafter of indulgences," sells various items based on her works, including pendants, keychains, and even life-sized pillowcases featuring popular comic book characters, such as Nightwing, with whom she admits to being somewhat obsessed.
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