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From the President's Desk
We are gearing up for an exciting month of Pride celebrations in June as well as preparing for elections for the 2011-2012 GLIFAA Board. If you are interested in becoming more involved in our growing organization, please consider running for a position. If you are abroad, you can also be a Post Representative or get involved in regional sub-groups of GLIFAA! We have already heard from a number of folks interested in advising on Western Hemisphere LGBT issues, and we are looking to broaden that to all regions. Please consider volunteering.
In an effort to more fully engage ourselves in the operations of the State Department and USAID, we are asking GLIFAA members posted abroad to send in reports on the situation for LGBT people in your countries of assignment. We are looking for specific information on incidents that went unreported in the recent Human Rights Report, including violence or harassment, arrests or other persecution by police and the state, and the general public understanding and opinion of LGBT people. Please also include your knowledge of LGBT activists and organizations in country, U.S. engagement with those organizations, and how you think the U.S. mission could better support them. This request does not in any way imply that missions are not conducting adequate reporting or engagement on these issues, but is simply a way to gain the perspective of GLIFAA members throughout the world. Please consider sending in a report to president@glifaa.org.
Some highlights from the past month or so:
· Our first J1 visa application has been approved! More are coming soon. GLIFAA met with Ambassador Steve Browning, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Resources, and other senior officials in the Bureau of Human Resources to discuss the J1 program, assignments, and partner accreditation. This followed our recent meeting with Under Secretary for Management Pat Kennedy, who is GLIFAA's leadership liaison. One specific item on the agenda with HR was correcting some misinformation provided to recent A-100 classes on partner accreditation. If a couple wants to serve in a particular country, it is important to pursue that request until the Department has fully considered it through its special accreditation panel. It was a good meeting, and we appreciate the close working relationship we have with HR.
· GLIFAA met with Leslie Teixeira, Director of the Family Liaison Office, to discuss some common initiatives and support programs. We discussed Pride Month activities, and she encouraged GLIFAA members abroad to reach out to their Community Liaison Officers (CLOs) to potentially plan Pride activities together. We also discussed offering resources to families abroad that may have an LGBT child coming out now or struggling in difficult situations. Let us know if you have an interest in working in this area.
· GLIFAA hosted a meeting with the Office for Civil Rights and Anne Vonhof, the coordinator of OPM's transgender policy working group. We are helping the State Department and USAID better prepare to support trans employees, both here and abroad. The Office for Civil Rights is, as ever, a strong and supportive partner.
· GLIFAA met with the Director of the Peace Corps to offer support and to commend them on some new LGBT-related initiatives they are working on. We encouraged Peace Corps Volunteers to reach out to GLIFAA post representatives for support on LGBT issues they might be experiencing and to join the GLIFAA community abroad. Thanks to Ryan Derni for arranging that meeting.
Finally, GLIFAA is working with the Secretary's Policy and Planning Staff (S/P) and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) on a fantastic Pride event. We are waiting for a date from the Secretary's office, which we will announce as soon as we have it. We already have OPM Director John Berry's commitment to participate. This year, we are asking that every embassy and consulate abroad host an event with local LGBT advocates in conjunction with the Secretary's remarks. If you are abroad, please work with your political and public affairs sections to help arrange these events. If you are in the States, please bring others from your office to attend the event. We are planning a big push to develop the GLIFAA Friends network, which will be open to all members of the foreign affairs agencies who support LGBT equality.
Thank you all for the work you do to advance LGBT equality within our agencies, within the United States, and throughout the world.
Jon Tollefson
GLIFAA President | 
