It’s been a long time coming, but the Senate finally confirmed Eric Fanning Tuesday evening as the secretary of the Army, making him the highest-ranking, openly gay official in the history of the military. Reuters reports:
Fanning was previously undersecretary of the Air Force and chief of staff to Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
Fanning was confirmed by unanimous voice vote, eight months following his nomination, after Senator Pat Roberts said Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work told him that it was now too late for the administration to transfer prisoners from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Roberts' home state, Kansas.
Work did not confirm Roberts' account of that conversation, saying that no option was off the table.
"I explained to Senator Roberts that we are trying to achieve the goal of closure with the support of Congress and we recognize that there is limited time left to achieve that support, both in terms of lifting Congressional restrictions and winning approval of funds to execute closure," Work said in a statement.
Roberts had blocked the nomination, irritating even Sen. John McCain, who favored Fanning’s confirmation. What a strange turn of events—few people posed more fierce resistance to the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” than McCain, who continually argued that open service would harm unit cohesion in the armed forces. Guess we’ve turned the corner on that.
Congrats to Secretary Fanning!