Moe Vela is the sort of guy who starts speeches by saying, "It's so good for this ugly, bald chubby gay Latino from South Texas to be with you today." Vela's claim to fame? He was a senior executive to the vice presidents in both the Clinton and Obama administrations, and was the first gay Hispanic person to do so.
"People ask me all the time, how do you get to do this twice?" Vela said. "You don't plan it. I was open, I was flexible and adaptable to what the universe brought. I didn't sit there and say this is the exact step by step process that's going to happen in my life. If I had done that, it would have never happened that way."
Trained as a lawyer from a family of Latino lawyers in South Texas, in the mid-'90s, Vela was drinking with an acquaintance who mentioned that the Clinton administration was looking for "lawyer types" to serve in the vice president's office.
"I was a schedule C political appointee in the bowels of the Department of Agriculture," Vela said with a laugh. "Here's this chubby Latino bald gay guy. ... It just wasn't where we would have expected me to be. There was a combination of naivete, innocence and frankly, kind of an enthusiasm, my almost raising my hand like I was in class saying me, me. I was just, like, "Well, that sounds kind of fun." I did not even, for a second, contemplate 'This is the White House.' ... I'd just had two or three beers. I probably thought the chances of it were so slim that I didn't even give it any thought."
In his book, Vela writes that those beers were probably the most important of his life. Little Secret, Big Dreams covers Vela's family origins and childhood to his White House years. He tells charming, madcap tales, like when he ripped his pants open on the day Air Force Two and Vice President Gore were scheduled to fly to South Texas. Vela stapled his pants together, the trip went smoothly, and Vela was proud of his ingenuity ... until his pants set off the White House metal detector a few months later. "Buns of steel," he quipped to the Secret Service agent.
Throughout his narrative, Vela displays impressive good humor and an ability to connect with anyone from Joe Lieberman's elderly Jewish mother to actor Rob Lowe. "I've always thought connecting with people is like the basics of life," he said. "And self-deprecating humor is a very powerful and key tool to meaningfully connect with people. "
That's why he introduces himself as chubby and ugly. "I feel like that like allows people to feel they can relate with you," Vela said.
Despite his boisterous adult spirit, severe anxiety marred Vela's childhood. He knew he was gay, but he felt he couldn't tell a soul. As an adult working in the White House, Vela and his former partner, Deiv, were victimized by a relatively new Clinton policy: "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Deiv was honorably discharged from the National Security Agency—but only because investigators couldn't prove the couple had had sex.
"You feel so violated when people are telling you "we know you've been talking to him, we watched you through your window kissing,'" Vela said. "It was a very powerful lesson in the power of legislation, and how it is so vital for us to be vigilant at all times."
While in public service, Vela often felt at odds with his communities. As a "big beefy bear" he never felt fully accepted by the image-conscious LGBTQ crowd, and other Latinos tended to be insecure when a member of their community succeeded.
"It never dampened my spirit to want to do right by both of my communities," Vela said. "I was a senior policy advisor on both of those communities both times. I did it with fervor, I did it with passion, I did it with complete commitment. I feel proud of that, to be honest."
Vela's White House stints were 15 years apart, and he finds notable differences in both himself and the two administrations he served.
"In the Clinton White House, that Southern genteel kind of hospitality was everywhere," he remembered. "They rolled up their sleeves, willing to do whatever it takes to do right by people."
By contrast, Vela sometimes found the Obama administration aloof and perhaps overconfident.
"I'm not suggesting the President was that way," Vela said. "The few times I was around him, he was actually not like that at all. And neither was Mrs. Obama. But it was some of his senior advisors who really never stopped being that way."
When Vela suggested looking at the effects of particular policies on niche populations, a senior Obama official told him that he didn't understand the mandate of the election. "We are now one America," the official said. If that moment had happened under Vice President Gore, Vela said he would have started crying. "At 48 or 49, I was able to remain composed," he said. He noted that Obama's 2012 reelection campaign targeted specific populations, just as Vela had suggested happen with policy initiatives.
Although his relationship with both the Gores and Bidens was always respectful and he considers both couples friends, Vela thinks his maturity changed his relationship with the new second family. "I had a little more life experience, and I felt more competent and comfortable," he said.
Despite the fact that his White House career took him by surprise, and a new, less welcoming administration is about to take office, Vela sees value in young LGBTQ people entering government service.
"We as gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgender Americans have earned the equality that should have always been ours in many ways that we didn't have before," Vela said. "It's up to us. Let's do away with our cliques, let's do away with what divides us, let's come together. I'm confident and positive that we will remain moving forward towards that incredible dream of full equality."
Little Secrets, Big Dreams is available on Amazon and at MoeVela.com .
