This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the passage of San Diego’s Human Dignity Ordinance (HDO), an ordinance that outlawed anti-gay bias in jobs and housing. I drafted the ordinance that took effect in July, 1990.

Then were no openly gay elected public officials in San Diego. Even though there are many gays and lesbians in office, the appointment and confirmation of Laura Duffy as the highest ranking lesbian official in San Diego is historic.

The fact that she’s a lesbian, who is married to a same-sex partner and raising a child, was reported in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, a legal journal, and Voice of San Diego.

A few months ago the United States Senate confirmed Duffy as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of California. Here’s the remarkable part: no one voted against Duffy in the U.S. Senate.

By contrast, in 1992, when President Clinton appointed the first open lesbian (Roberta Achtenberg) to become an assistant secretary, then Senator Jesse Helms (R-North Carolina) condemned her as a “damned lesbian” and urged Senators to vote against her.

There is now a “damned lesbian” as our chief federal law enforcement officer in the region. Duffy’s partner in crime is District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, also a married lesbian. There are at least four openly gay and lesbian judges on the Superior Court, and one openly gay federal judge, all in San Diego.

Duffy’s story doesn’t end with her being a lesbian, a fact that could have prevented her employment twenty years ago. As federal employees generally had no job protection against discrimination based upon sexual orientation.

Even in 2010, Duffy’s marriage is not necessarily recognized under federal law. To the extent that federal law doesn’t recognize her marriage, Duffy’s child does not necessarily receive the same benefits that the children of heterosexual couples have.

Duffy was recommended by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer to President Obama, who then nominated her for the post. Boxer had appointed a local group to recommend candidates for the post. Previously, she had urged the committee to find someone supportive of gay rights. She had no idea the committee would do even better than recommend someone just supportive, but that it would recommend a lesbian.

Duffy is the second openly gay U.S. Attorney in U.S. history. It was only twenty years ago that local former F.B.I. agent Frank Buttino wrote in his memoir “Special Agent” that federal law provided no protection against rampant bias against gay and lesbian federal law-enforcement officials. In fact, Buttino wrote that he didn’t even know of any gay or lesbian folks in federal law enforcement. Well, that is with the exception of then FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover and Hoover’s long-time lover.

The ostensible reason for the bias was that gay men and lesbians would be subject to extortion because no person would have been “stupid enough” to be openly gay in states where gay sex was illegal.

But with Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court struck down laws criminalizing gay sex. Since 2003, there is no longer a rational reason for bias against gays. However, there is still no federal law prohibiting job bias against gays. Federal employees like Duffy are at the mercy of U.S. Presidents, who must agree to provide job security by singing an executive order.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California works under U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Duffy has been in the Southern District office (located here in San Diego) for over a decade and is known for her vigorous prosecution of drug cartels. The Southern District, because of our proximity to the border, is overwhelmed with border-related crimes, such as human and drug trafficking.

The only relevance Duffy’s sexual orientation has is this. Though she’s married under California law and has a child, her family is not recognized entirely under federal law.

If she had a son, who wanted to join the local Boy Scouts, he probably could not. It’s because the BSA’s national policy prevents our local chapter from allowing his parents (moms) to participate in the BSA because of their sexual orientation. In short, she and her family cannot enjoy the benefits of scouting in Balboa Park. Twenty years after the passage of the HDO, we all would have assumed that the national BSA would have changed its policy for the kids.

Congratulations to U.S. Attorney Duffy. Equally as important, thank Senator Barbara Boxer for having the courage and foresight to suggest Duffy to President Obama. Thank Obama for doing what no other President has ever done: appoint openly gay and lesbian individuals to the highest law enforcement positions in the country.