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.
John F. Tefft is an American diplomat who has served as a Foreign Service Officer since 1972. He was the United States Ambassador to Russia between July 31, 2014 and September 28, 2017. He had previously served as the United States' ambassador to Ukraine, Georgia, and Lithuania.
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.
Frank George Wisner II is an American businessman and former diplomat who had served as acting United States Secretary of State for a few hours following the resignation of the previous acting United States Secretary of State Arnold Kanter at noon on January 20, 1993 until the confirmation by the United States Senate and swearing in of Warren Christopher as United States Secretary of State later that day. He is the son of CIA official Frank Wisner (1909–1965). On January 31, 2011, he was sent to Egypt by President Barack Obama to negotiate a resolution to the popular protests against the regime that had swept the country. A White House spokesman said that Wisner had vast experience in the region as well as close relationships with many Egyptians in and out of government. The New York Times reported that he was a personal friend of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
Richard Allen Grenell is an American political operative, diplomat, TV personality, and public relations consultant who served as Acting Director of National Intelligence in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in 2020. A member of the Republican Party, Grenell served as the United States Ambassador to Germany from 2018 to 2020 and as the Special Presidential Envoy for Serbia and Kosovo Peace Negotiations from 2019 to 2021.
Robert Stephen "Steve" Beecroft is an American diplomat and attorney. He served as United States Ambassador to Egypt from December 2014 to June 2017. He previously served as United States Ambassador to Iraq and United States Ambassador to Jordan.
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.
Sung Yong Kim is an American diplomat of Korean descent who has served as the United States Special Representative for North Korea Policy since 2021, and previously from 2014 to 2016. He has also served as the acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from January to June 2021.
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.
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.
LGBTQ+ conservatism in the United States is a social and political ideology within the LGBTQ+ community that largely aligns with the American conservative movement. LGBTQ+ conservatism is generally more moderate on social issues than social conservatism, instead emphasizing values associated with fiscal conservatism, libertarian conservatism, and neoconservatism.
Richard Merrill Mills Jr. is an American diplomat who serves as the United States deputy ambassador to the United Nations. He served as the U.S. Chargé d'Affaires and Acting Permanent Representative to the United Nations between January 20, 2021, and February 24, 2021, when Linda Thomas-Greenfield became ambassador. In July 2022, he was announced as the nominee to serve as the United States ambassador to Nigeria.
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.
Virginia Evelyn Palmer is an American diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to Ghana since 2022. Palmer is the former United States ambassador to Malawi. She was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate, beginning the assignment in January 2015.
John D. Feeley is an American diplomat. He was the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Panama from 2015 until his resignation took effect on March 9, 2018.
Todd D. Robinson is an American diplomat who has served as Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs since September 2021. He previously served as the charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in Venezuela from December 2017 until being expelled in May 2018, and the U.S. ambassador to Guatemala from 2014 to 2017.
John Jefferson "Jeff" Daigle is an American diplomat who serves as the United States Ambassador to Cabo Verde, being sworn in on June 28, 2019. Immediately prior to his Ambassadorship, Daigle served as Acting Executive Director for the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy and Chief of Staff for the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Daigle is one of five LGBT appointed ambassadors under the Trump administration.
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.
