Feldblum nomination passes Senate committee –- by Lisa Keen - MetroWeekly – Washington DC

Anti-gay groups step up campaign to stop lesbian nominee's appointment to EEOC

By Lisa Keen

Keen News Service

December 11, 2009

A Senate committee Thursday approved the nomination of openly gay law professor Chai Feldblum to serve as a member of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The nomination now goes to the full Senate, where it could still face opposition.

Right-wing groups turned up the volume on their opposition to the nomination in recent days.

Focus on the Family, the Traditional Values Coalition, the Liberty Counsel, the American Family Association, and a number of other ultraconservative groups signed onto a Dec. 8 letter to the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, saying they ''strongly oppose'' Feldblum's nomination. They cited a number of concerns, the biggest of which appeared to be that Feldblum believes that religious institutions that engage in commercial activities in the public realm must adhere to anti-discrimination laws.

Concerned Women for America, on its website, says Feldblum ''represents one of the most serious threats to religious freedom we have seen in a long time.'' The Traditional Values Coalition urged its members to call Senate Committee members to oppose the nomination…

…Feldblum, a longtime gay legal activist, has been a key player in the development of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination against people with HIV and other disabilities. She has decidedly liberal credentials, having clerked for, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun served as legislative counsel to the ACLU, and worked as a consultant to the Human Rights Campaign. But she also is professor of law at the prestigious Georgetown University School of Law, where she helped found the Federal Legislation and Administrative Clinic. Through that clinic, she helped provide representation to Catholic Charities USA. Her nomination has also been endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Society of Resource Management… Read complete article - By Lisa Keen - Keen News Service - MetroWeekly Photo

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Related links:

Chai Feldblum coasting toward confirmation as member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – by Nancy Polikoff

Chai R. Feldblum is a Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., Director of Georgetown’s Federal Legislation Clinic, and Co-Director of Workplace Flexibility 2010.

Moral Conflict and Liberty: Gay Rights and Religion; Feldblum, Chai R.

Disability, Gay Rights Expert Picked for EEOC - By Garance Franke-Ruta - The Washington Post