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Comissioner Margaret Hamburg introduced John Berry, the highest-ranking openly
LGBT official in the Obama administration, when he delivered a stirring and
poignant talk to an enthusiastic crowd of FDA employees on October 16th in the
atrium of FDA's Building 66 on the White Oak campus.
John Berry, the openly gay director of the Office of Personnel Management, delivered
a moving and personal speech to a mixed crowd of about 200 employees, entitled
“Out at Work: Sexual Orientation in the American Workplace.”
Berry paid tribute to the patrons of the Stonewall bar, and Frank Kameny, the gay rights icon who fought to eradicate discriminatory practices in the federal workforce, before citing his own experiences as a gay man to simultaneously touch and challenge the hearts of those sitting before him.
The goal of the LGBT movement is simple, he said. All Americans should be free
to work where their skills enable them, free to share equally in every right
as well as every responsibility and burden of citizenship, and free to love
and pursue happiness no more and no less than our fellow Americans.”
Berry, well aware his LGBT peers often feel ostracized and belittled by their
fellow citizens, drew strength in recalling the struggles once faced by some
of the nation's most hallowed citizens.
He pointed to the courage of the likes of Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin, when many of their neighbors and countrymen saw their pursuit of liberty as treason and would have cheered their hanging. “Whether it was securing a woman's right to vote or ending 'separate but equal, Susan B. Anthony and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were not unanimously acclaimed and embraced by all their country.”
“He pointed out that our country is once again divided, and finding a middle ground is often elusive when liberty is at stake.
The tree of liberty grows by adding new rings, Berry said, and we must not rest until our ring is secure. We shall be clear in our ends; we shall be honest and open; we shall work where our abilities allow; we shall continue to serve our country with bravery and distinction; we shall love who our hearts desire.”
Berry capped his speech with two remarkably open and personal appeals to the audience.
Coming from a long line of men who served in the military, he told of his father's puzzlement at the nation's present treatment of gays who serve our country. “We didn't call 'em gays -- but they were there and they died as bravely as everyone else,” Berry's father said to him in the year before he died.
Berry then recalled one of his good friends who was gay and had served in the Middle East. “His sacrifice and risk of life was no less dear than anyone. I ask America, where do you stand -- with his honorable service or with those who would make him lie to do so?”
In the final moments of his address, Berry revisited losing his partner of 10 years to AIDS after it reduced his athletic 190-pound body to just 90 pounds.
I was his primary caregiver -- and I held him in my arms as he died. I would have gladly traded my life for his that night, just as I would do so now for my current partner of 12 years if ever need be. Were we married? No, but I dare anyone to say we were not in love. I was blessed by two supportive families and dear friends who honored our relationship. If I hadn't been -- I shudder to think -- because no power on earth could have kept me from his side.
“Again, I ask: Where do you stand? Honoring love as precious and true wherever you find it, or with those who would demean or deny it?
I urge you. Stand where you can be proud. Stand with service and truth. Stand with love. Stand for liberty and justice for all,” he concluded.
Berry received a standing ovation at the conclusion of his talk, and stayed to answer questions from the audience.
The Center, an GLBT organization in Washington, DC is creating a speakers bureau in repsonse to requests they receive for speakers or panelists on a wide variety of issues impacting the GLBT community. The list will be available at their offices, or on their website.
Being listed does not obligate you to speak at any particular
event, nor does it guarantee that you will be asked to speak. Also, it’s
important for you to know that you control what personal information, if any,
is included in the directory. You can choose to not list your e-mail or phone
number, in which case The Center will forward requests to you directly.
You can get more
information, or if you would like to be included in the list of local speakers
simply fill out the
form and let them know. You can also download the speakers bureau form in
pdf format
and mail it in to The Center.
Join FedGLOBE
for the Federal Employee happy hour. 
Richard Klein representing FDA GLOBE at the November 28, 2007
HHS Diversity
Briefing at the Great Hall of the Humphrey Buidling
November 27, 2007 FDA Diversity Fair at White Oak
(l. to r., Linda Amendt, Richard Klein, Diane Gubernot)
