This list of LGBT ambassadors of the United States includes ambassadors of the United States who publicly identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or otherwise part of the LGBT community at the time of their appointment. This list includes ambassadors to individual nations of the world, to international organizations (also known as permanent representatives), and ambassadors-at-large. [1]
Ambassadors are nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. [2] Ambassadors serve "at the pleasure of the president", meaning they can be dismissed at any time.
Michael E. Guest was a U.S. Ambassador to Romania during the George W. Bush presidency. Guest was sworn in by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on September 18, 2001, and took up his duties on September 24, 2001. His partner Alex Nevarez was acknowledged by Powell at the swearing-in ceremony in the State Department Diplomatic Reception Room. LGBT rights groups viewed Guest's appointment, and Powell's remarks, as historic and indicative of greater recognition of gay State Department employees and same-sex couples. Socially conservative groups expressed opposition to Guest's appointment and to Powell's gesture.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in the United States rank among the most advanced in the world, with public opinion and jurisprudence changing significantly since the late 1980s.
GLIFAA is the officially recognized organization representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender etc. (LGBT+) personnel and their families in the United States Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Foreign Commercial Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, and other agencies and entities working in foreign affairs in the U.S. Government. The acronym comes from its original name, Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies. As of 2014, the organization goes by GLIFAA and uses the slogan "LGBT+ pride in foreign affairs agencies" to underscore its inclusive composition. GLIFAA was founded in 1992 by fewer than a dozen employees who faced official harassment and potential loss of their jobs because of their sexual orientation. The organization has grown to hundreds of Foreign Service, Civil Service, and contract personnel and their families serving in Washington, throughout the U.S., and at U.S. embassies and missions around the world. Members also include retirees and straight allies in government agencies, while other supporters are affiliate members.
Morrell John Berry is an American former government official who was named President of the American Australian Association in 2016. Berry was director of the United States Office of Personnel Management from 2009 to 2013 and United States Ambassador to Australia from 2013 to 2016.
David Huebner is an international arbitrator based in Southern California. He previously served as the United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. He was the first openly gay ambassador in the Obama administration and the third openly gay ambassador in United States history. His tenure was marked by significant improvement in bilateral relations, with commentators observing that relations are stronger and closer than they have been in decades. Called an “excellent public face for the United States,” he has been widely praised as a successful Ambassador including for his accessible, inclusive approach, his emphasis on students and future leaders, and the innovative restructuring of his Embassies around social media and other nontraditional tools and approaches of diplomacy. Before being appointed Ambassador he worked as an international lawyer in Los Angeles, Shanghai, and New York City, specializing in international arbitration and mediation. He is licensed as an attorney in California, New York, and in the District of Columbia, and as a solicitor in England and Wales.
Chai Rachel Feldblum is an American author and activist for disability and LGBT rights. A former law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, she served as Commissioner at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She was nominated to the position on the EEOC by president Barack Obama in 2009. In April 2010, she received a recess appointment to the EEOC, and in December 2010 she was confirmed to serve on the EEOC by the United States Senate. The Senate confirmed her in December 2013 for a second term on the Commission which expired in July 2018.
Robert Lee Pitman is an American attorney and jurist who serves as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and former United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas. He was previously a United States Magistrate Judge of the same court.
LGBT history in the United States spans the contributions and struggles of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, as well as the LGBT social movements they have built.
Michael Walter Fitzgerald is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
Michael J. McShane is an American lawyer serving as the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. He previously served as a state court judge on the Oregon Multnomah County Circuit Court from 2001 to 2013.
Todd Michael Hughes is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Elaine Debra Kaplan is the chief judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims. She served as General Counsel of the United States Office of Personnel Management from 2009 to 2013, and as acting director of the office in 2013.
Judith Ellen Levy is an American lawyer who has served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan since 2014.
James Walter Brewster Jr., commonly known as Wally Brewster, served as the United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate of the United States on November 14, 2013. Brewster was the first person in a same-sex marriage to represent the United States at the ambassadorial level in the Americas. He left office on January 20, 2017. Ambassador Brewster currently serves as a Principal for Insignias Global, an international political and brand advisory firm. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the Atlantic Council, Parliamentarians for Global Action and the National Democratic institute.
Staci Michelle Yandle is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
Daniel Brooks Baer is an American politician and former diplomat from Colorado currently serving as Senior Vice President for Policy Research at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Baer served in the Obama administration's State Department, first as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor from 2009 to 2013, and then as United States Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe from 2013 to 2017. In 2018, Governor John Hickenlooper appointed Baer as the executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education.
Randy William Berry is an American diplomat and the United States ambassador to Namibia since February 9, 2023. He has previously served as the United States ambassador to Nepal and the first Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons in the United States Department of State.
Theodore George Osius III is an American diplomat and the former United States Ambassador to Vietnam.
Robert Stuart Gilchrist is an American diplomat who has served as the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor since September 2023. He served as the United States ambassador to Lithuania from February 2020 to August 2023. He is a career Foreign Service Officer with the rank of minister counselor. He was appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the United States Senate on December 20, 2019. Gilchrist was the fifth US ambassador from the LGBT community nominated to serve by the Trump administration.
