GLIFAA - Equal Benefits, Gay or Straight!
PRESS RELEASE
January 13, 2009
For Immediate Release
Contact:
GLIFAA President
Michelle Schohn
703-881-6117
Clinton Supports LGBT Foreign Affairs Employees
Nominee Testifies at Confirmation Hearing
Washington, DC - Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies (GLIFAA) welcomes Secretary of State-nominee Hillary Clinton's statement today that she would review policies to see what could be changed to assist lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) personnel at the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and other foreign affairs agencies.  She noted that many foreign countries have already changed the policies to provide equal treatment for gay and lesbian staff of foreign affairs agencies.  Senator Clinton made her remarks in response to a question from Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  Senator Feingold specifically referenced regulations that deny the same-sex partners of LGBT personnel the same rights as heterosexual spouses.
 
GLIFAA plans to present to the incoming Secretary of State a letter signed by over 2,000 current and former employees of the Department of State and other foreign affairs agencies, requesting fairness for LBGT employees.  GLIFAA board members also met with members of President-elect Obama's transition team at the Department of State in December.

GLIFAA President Michelle Schohn welcomed Senator Clinton's acknowledgement that fairer policies serve as good business sense. Schohn noted that LGBT U.S. diplomats and aid workers serve overseas in some of the most dangerous locations, but continue to be denied equal treatment for their families.  She expressed hope that the incoming Administration would work quickly to implement overdue reforms.

U.S. Foreign Service personnel - as well as civil service and contract employees - are required to serve a large portion of their careers at U.S. embassies and missions overseas.  However, the partners of LGBT personnel receive no assistance while accompanying employees on these mandatory assignments.  Among many other obstacles, LGBT partners lack access to affordable health insurance coverage and resources for moving abroad.  During overseas tours, employees' partners do not receive assistance in obtaining a visa and lack access to employment opportunities, emergency evacuation, and embassy medical units, all afforded to married, heterosexual couples.      
 
Former U.S. Ambassador Michael Guest, who resigned in protest in 2007, served as the highest profile Foreign Service Officer to leave the State Department due to its failure to redress inequalities in the treatment between heterosexual spouses and same-sex partners.  Guest became the first openly gay ambassador confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2001 and earned many awards and accolades during his 26 years in the Foreign Service.
 
GLIFAA, officially-recognized by the U.S. State Department, represents lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) personnel and their families in the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Foreign Commercial Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, and other foreign affairs agencies and offices in the U.S. Government. Founded in 1992 by fewer than a dozen employees who faced official harassment simply because of their sexual orientation, GLIFAA continues to seek equality and fairness for LGBT employees and their families.
 
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