President Barack Obama’s administration has indisputably done more to advance the LGBT agenda than any prior administration. Ending Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell for the military, vigorous support of gay marriage, and bathroom choice for the transgendered are only a few of the boxes checked off the LGBT wish list. At the State Department, however, Obama’s secretary of state John Kerry did fall short of his goals for the L, B and T members of the community.
In June 2014, less than halfway through President Obama’s second term, Kerry gave a speech touting the administration’s LGBT accomplishments to date. As THE WEEKLY STANDARD reported at the time, Kerry told his audience that Ted Osius (nominated for a post in Vietnam) would be the sixth openly gay U.S. ambassador currently in service if confirmed (which he was in November 2014):
In keeping with the best laid plans of mice and men, Kerry’s plans seem to have gone awry. According to a list of ambassadors confirmed during President Obama’s tenure (via the American Foreign Service Association,) 137 nominees have been confirmed since Kerry’s speech. Osius is the only openly LGBTer in the whole group. As recently as August 2016, an article at TheNewCivilRightsMovement.com named just six men as the only openly gay U.S. ambassadors: Daniel Baer, James Costos, Rufus Gifford, James “Wally” Brewster, John Berry, and Ted Osius.
When asked if Kerry had been able to add any lesbian, bisexual, and transgender ambassadors to the ranks of the State Department, a State Department official did not directly answer, but said:
Like many of Secretary Kerry’s goals for U.S. foreign policy, however, a steadfast commitment does not always translate into reality.
