The last time a president was starting from scratch to build out a Cabinet, the world looked very different.

When President Barack Obama was inaugurated, only two states allowed gay couples to marry (Massachusetts and Connecticut). And on the same night that Americans elected our first African-American president, voters in California also passed an initiative that halted marriages between same-sex couples in their state – handing the LGBT community its 30th consecutive loss at the ballot.

So while a few organizations were pushing newly-elected president to make history by appointing an openly gay secretary, others in the political pundit class worried taking that step would be divisive, throwing gasoline on a very active national fight about the status of LGBT people in America. After all, Obama had just very publicly reiterated his view that "marriage is the union between a man and a woman" and even his invitation to a gay bishop to pray at an inauguration celebration was considered controversial.

Today, that world seems like a distant memory. That's why if Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton breaks the ultimate glass ceiling this November, she should pull the LGBT community up with her. The first woman president could make history in more ways than one – by nominating an openly LGBT person to a Cabinet-level post for the first time since our nation's founding. It's time, and the good news is there are fantastically well-qualified people who are ready to do those jobs on day one.

Gay Marriage Cartoons View All 45 Images

Take Maura Healey, for example. Currently the attorney general of Massachusetts, Healey has already broken a glass ceiling of her own by becoming the first openly LGBT chief law enforcement officer in the country. Before assuming that role, as chief of the civil rights division for then-Attorney General Martha Coakley, Healey helped lead her state's fight against the noxious federal Defense of Marriage Act, laying the groundwork for the Supreme Court decision in 2013 which struck down that law as unconstitutional. She has labored for years to help the people of Massachusetts on some of the most pressing problems that face our nation, including the opioid epidemic, predatory student lending, sexual assault, gun violence, clean energy and racial bias in policing and the criminal justice system writ large. Her record of public service and longstanding commitment to achieving the same goals that are the centerpieces of Clinton's campaign would make her an exceptional candidate to fill U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch's shoes at the Justice Department.

That's just one example of the many qualified LGBT people who wait in the wings to fill the top jobs in a Clinton Administration. Eric Fanning is currently serving admirably as the secretary of the Army, the first gay man to lead any U.S. military service, and he should no doubt be part of the mix when considering who should head up the Department of Defense. Annise Parker just finished up two terms as the mayor of Houston, the fourth largest city in the country, and would make an exemplary addition to the Cabinet brain trust. The same is true of Amanda Simpson, who in 2010 made history by becoming the first openly transgender presidential appointee in any Administration. At this point, no one can plausibly argue that there aren't LGBT Americans who possess the skills and experience necessary to be called secretary.

Not only is the LGBT community ready, so is the country. The marriage battles are over, and voters overwhelming say they would vote for a gay or lesbian person to fill political jobs up and down the ballot – including for president. And if you need more proof that Americans across the political spectrum are ready for high-level LGBT appointments, you can even look to Donald Trump, who is apparently considering gay PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel for the Supreme Court. If the Republican nominee is comfortable saying he'd nominate an LGBT person to the highest court in the land, I think we can safely say there's a national consensus that being gay or transgender shouldn't stop any qualified American from serving his or her country in any role, including as a Cabinet secretary.