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The GLIFAA Globe
March 2008
In This Issue
Events: All-Member Meeting Wednesday
GLIFAA Board Elections
State Encourages Security Training for MOHs
GLIFAA Plans for 2008 - Pay Dues!
ICAP Applications Due May 5
Congressional Support for MOH
Listen to Ambassador Guest on XM Radio
HIV Positive Foreign Service Officers Allowed
MOH Network News - Anyone Blogging?
GLBT in Iraq or Afghanistan?
Join Our Mailing List
Greetings!

We hope you can attend Wednesday's all member's meeting!  Please RSVP to Aaron Jensen at [email protected].

The GLBT foreign affairs community has had some very good news in the past few weeks!

First, the Department has made security training available to all members of household.

Second, due to GLIFAA's efforts and press from Ambassador Guest's retirement, Congress is supporting our efforts to expand the MOH policy as well as changing health benefits for government employees.

Finally, the Department has changed its policy regarding the employment of HIV positive foreign service officers.

Also, Civil Service personnel should look here for information regarding legislation affecting their benefits.

Please join us Wednesday as we devise strategy to continue to advocate for our issues!

-The GLIFAA Board
Upcoming Events
All Members - Open Board Meeting

Featuring:
Aaron Jensen, outgoing GLIFAA President
Ajit Joshi, outgoing Policy Director
Ashton Giese,
outgoing Public Relations Director
Selim Ariturk, outgoing Outreach Chair
John Wiecking, outgoing Treasurer

And you!  Please join us!  All GLIFAA members, partners, and friends are welcome. 

Appetizers and drinks will be served!

We will be discussing...
  • April Elections
  • PRIDE Activities
  • Advocacy and outreach plans
GLIFAA has held these monthly meetings in the past - we plan to resurrect at least quarterly meetings where all members are welcome.


Please RSVP to Aaron Jensen - [email protected]

Residence of Aaron Jensen
1427 Chapin Street NW
Apt 302
Metro U Street Cardozo

Wednesday, March 5
7:00 - 9:00 pm

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GLIFAA - SAIS - Harvard - World Bank Happy Hour @ Nellie's!

GLIFAA invites you to network with LGBT groups from the academic and development communities.

Nellie's Sports Bar
900 U Street NW
Metro:  U Street

Wednesday, March 26
6:30 - 8:30 pm


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FedGlobe Happy Hour at Cobalt/30 Degrees

Join other LGBT Federal Employees for their monthly 1st Thursday at Cobalt!
Cobalt/30 Degrees
1639 R St NW
Metro:  Dupont Circle


Thursday, March 6
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Send in Nominations!
GLIFAA Board Elections around the Corner...


Thinking about expanding your leadership experience?  Want to get involved with a group on the front lines of advocating for GLBT rights for federal employees??

Think about getting involved with the GLIFAA Board or - do you know someone who would be perfect for our board?

Send in nominations to [email protected] by March 21st!

Speak with President Aaron Jensen at State ([email protected]), Policy Director Ajit Joshi at USAID ([email protected]) or email [email protected] to get more information.

All positions will be up for re-election, including:

President
Policy Director
Treasurer
Public Affairs Director
Membership Outreach
Civil Service Coordinator
 
State Encorages Security Training for MOH

Security-related training offered by FSI:

(a) SAFE (Safety Abroad for Families and Employees) is the mandatory personal security training for personnel under Chief of Mission (COM) authority. It consists of two training modules, which can be taken separately.  State career employees are only required to take the Security Overseas Seminar.  The second (Working in an Embassy) is included in entry- level training.

-- (1) The Security Overseas Seminar (SOS) (MQ911) is a two-day class at FSI.  It is mandatory for all employees under COM authority prior to their first overseas assignment.  Family members and MOHs are also strongly encouraged to enroll.  For additional information, and a schedule of classes, please see

HTTP://FSI.STATE.GOV/ADMIN/REG/DEFAULT.ASP?EVENTID=MQ911

State employees will be automatically enrolled upon assignment overseas.

-- (2) Working in an Embassy (WIAE) (PN113) is an on-line, Distance Learning follow-on to SOS and is also mandatory for personnel under Chief of Mission
authority, regardless of agency.  (See above note regarding career State Department FS employees.) While family members and MOHs are welcome, it is most relevant to those who expect to work within an embassy.  For additional information, and a schedule of classes, please see

HTTP://FSI.STATE.GOV/ADMIN/REG/DEFAULT.ASP?EVENTID=PN113

(b) Advanced Security Overseas Seminar (MQ912) is open to those who have taken the two-day Security Overseas Seminar (MQ911).  It fulfills the requirement to take the SOS program every five years and is available on line, through Distance Learning. For additional information, please see

HTTP://FSI.STATE.GOV/ADMIN/REG/DEFAULT.ASP?EVENTID=MQ912

(c) The Security Overseas Seminar, Youth (MQ914) is a one-day class at FSI held in February and during the summer months, exploring safety and security issue that our youth may face in an overseas environment and help them identify resources to protect themselves.  In February, classes are held for family members and MOHs in grades six through twelve.  Classes in the summer are open to those in grades two through twelve.   For additional information, please see

HTTP://FSI.STATE.GOV/ADMIN/REG/DEFAULT.ASP?EVENTID=MQ914

To enroll their family members and MOHs, and to enroll themselves in the courses for which enrollment is not automatic, State employees should contact their Career Development Officer (CDO).  All other agencies should contact their Human Resources office.

 
GLIFAA appreciates your dues!

Please Click Here to pay 2008 dues.

To review our 2007 expenses, we began using this nifty new newsletter at a small monthly cost, donated money to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, sent our Director of Public Affairs and Communications to the annual Out and Equal Conference, and kept the organization running administratively.

The Board has bigger plans in 2008.  While we continue pushing for equality of benefits with senior management and advocate for GLBT issues, we hope to significantly increase our outreach and visibility in Washington.  GLIFAA needs to be noticed by senior management and the gay and lesbian activist community.

We appreciate the strong support many of you have made over the past few years, and hope you'll join again this year.  We believe we have corrected the situation that caused some uncashed checks in 2006.  Furthermore, our new Treasurer has expressed that although we were able to get through 2007 without your contributions, we cannot expect the same in 2008!

Apply for the International Career Advancement Program!

Please take a look at the International Career Advancement Program (ICAP).  The program is geared to anyone who self-identifies as a minority, makes a compelling case of being part of an underrepresented group in international affairs, and makes the argument that being part of ICAP will help his/her career and the advancement of his/her minority.  The LGBT community counts!

The Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver, and the Aspen Institute invite nominations and applications for the International Career Advancement Program (ICAP).  ICAP will bring together mid-career professionals from groups underrepresented in leadership positions in international affairs with senior officials and policy-makers to spend one week in Aspen, Colorado, September 20-28, 2008, discussing:

  • Major international issues to be faced during the next decade
  • The credentials and experiences normally sought for senior appointments
  • Common career patterns of those achieving senior positions
  • The importance of diversity if US interest are to be served adequately
  • Career issues or problems and how they can be addressed
  • Obstacles faced by those seeking advancement and how to overcome them
  • Programs and policies designed to increase diversity at senior levels


The purpose of ICAP is to help bring higher quality and greater diversity to the staffing of senior management and policy-making positions in international careers in the US, both governmental and private.  The aim is to assist highly promising mid-career professionals advance to more senior positions in international affairs.  Those selected for the program pay for their own travel and must pay a $150 registration fee but their room, meals and program expenses in Aspen are provided by the program.   Applicants should:

  • Have a demonstrated commitment to increasing the quality and diversity of senior leadership in the US in international affairs
  • Be US citizens or permanent residents
  • Be professionals who have been or are now in international careers, with 3 to 15 years of working experience
  • Have an interest in a long-term career in international affairs
  • Have credentials and achievements that indicate potential for the highest levels of administration and policy-making
  • Be committed to providing support for their peers and mentoring those junior to them

For an application form, go to http://www.du.edu/~trowe/icap or write or email: 

Professor Thomas Rowe, Director
International Career Advancement Program
Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver
2201 South Gaylord Street
Denver, Colorado 80208
E-mail: [email protected]

Completed Applications are due by May 5, 2008

Congress Supporting Changes to State MOH policy

Miami-Herald: "Ros-Lehtinen, others protest "inequitable treatment of gay and lesbian Foreign Service Officers"

On Thursday, U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Tammy Baldwin, Howard Berman and Gary Ackerman sent this letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:

 "We have followed with great interest and concern the media coverage of the workplace inequities facing gays and lesbians in the U.S. Department of State. As in the case of Former Ambassador to Romania Michael Guest, the inequitable treatment of gay and lesbian Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) and their partners should not be allowed to lead highly qualified employees to leave the State Department at a time when their service is needed more than ever. Many of these inequities could clearly be remedied through your leadership as Secretary, without legislative changes. We write to highlight basic and common-sense policy changes that beg your prompt attention and ask that you act to make eliminating inequities facing gays and lesbians at the State Department a priority.

"By not including same-sex partners in the definition of an "Eligible Family Member" (EFM), the Department excludes them from many of the benefits, protections, and services that are enjoyed by family members of married FSOs, and that are important to the safety, effectiveness, and morale of our communities abroad."

You can read the entire letter here
Ambassador Guest on XM Radio

Listen to Ambassador Guest on "The Agenda with Joe Solmonese" February 18th on XM Radio here: http://www.theagendaonxm.org/audio-archive/
US Drops Ban on HIV Positive Diplomats
From the Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Under pressure from a lawsuit, the State Department is changing rules that had disqualified HIV-positive people from becoming U.S. diplomats.

Effective Friday, the department removed HIV from a list of medical conditions that automatically prevent foreign service candidates from meeting an employment requirement that they be able to work anywhere in the world.

The change was made after consultation with medical experts and in response to a lawsuit filed by an HIV-positive man who was denied entry into the foreign service despite being otherwise qualified, the department said.

Prospective diplomats with HIV will now be considered for the foreign service on a case-by-case basis, along with those with other designated ailments like cancer to determine if they meet the ''worldwide availability'' standard, it said.

Officials denied that the policy had ever intentionally discriminated against HIV-positive people and noted that the policy had applied only to incoming diplomats, not those who had contracted the virus or other diseases while in the foreign service.

''We have a policy requiring that all foreign service officers be worldwide available as determined by a medical examination at the time of entry into the foreign service,'' said Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman. ''That has not changed.''

The department's chief medical officer had ''revised its medical clearance guidelines on HIV based on advances in HIV care and treatment and consultations with medical experts,'' Gallegos said. ''The new clearance guidelines provide that HIV-positive individuals may be deemed worldwide available if certain medical conditions are met.''

The decision was hailed by Lambda Legal, a New York-based group that advocates for the civil rights of homosexuals, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV and represented the plaintiff in the lawsuit against the State Department.

''The new guidelines mean that candidates for Foreign Service posts who have HIV will now be assessed on a case-by-case basis, as the law requires,'' said Bebe Anderson, the organization's HIV project director. ''At long last, the State Department is taking down its sign that read, 'People with HIV need not apply.'''

The change in policy came less than two weeks before the trial in the lawsuit brought in 2003 by Lorenzo Taylor, a trilingual international affairs specialist who passed the difficult foreign service application process but was rejected after he told the department of his HIV status.

''Now people like me who apply to the Foreign Service will not have to go through what I did,'' Taylor said in a statement. ''They and others with HIV will know that they do not have to surrender to stigma, ignorance, fear or the efforts of anyone, even the federal government, to impose second-class citizenship on them. They can fight back.''

Lambda Legal said the suit had been settled ''partly due to the new guidelines,'' but the State Department said the policy switch was not part of the settlement.

''The change simply reflects medical advances in the area of HIV care and maintenance,'' Gallegos said.

FSO or MOH Blogging?!

Michelle Schohn is looking for FSOs and/or MOHs with blogs about their experiences abroad!

The MOH Network has been having a lively discussion on Yahoo-Groups and the Board encorages MOHs to participate!  Email moderator [email protected] if you cannot access the homepage of the network   Please provide identifying information (employee of which organization, or MOH of which employee who is at which organization) so that you can be verified prior to being part of the group. 

For those of wanting to "institutionalize" your experiences, here is one great example: lifeafterjerusalem.blogspot.com

Michelle Schohn is looking to create links from her blog to any of the blogs of other FSOs and/or MOHs, in particular who have stories about MOH issues.  If you have a blog and are willing to let Michelle put a link to your blog on her blog, please email her. 

And if you're still not convinced, Michelle, a Public Diplomacy professional, says "I think blogs are a good way to let people know what life is like in the FS, whether as an employee, spouse/partner (same or opposite sex) or family member. And for those of us with MOH or partner issues, it is an excellent way to get the word out on what we deal with!"

"The MOH Network" is a discussion group for all individuals who fall into the classification of Members of Household as defined in 3 FAM 4180 and their partners/sponsors.  A MOH is anyone accompanying a Foreign Service Officer to post.  This includes parents, partners, (opposite sex, same sex), and children over age 21.  In other words-anyone who is not mentioned on an officer's orders.  The MOH Network is a venue for MOHs to seek out resources and information.  It is also a place for individuals to share strategies, vent frustration and most important - find support.

Employees are requested to please share this information with their family members.

 

Sign up: [email protected]

Contact:
[email protected]
Did you serve in Iraq or Afghanistan??
Please let us know...
 

GLIFAA would like to compile a list of GLBT members who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan.  Even if you feel that you do not want to provide your name, please let us know so you can be counted.  This type of information will help show our leadership the committment that gay members have to our work - as well as show a real need to provide equal treatment.  Please email [email protected]