Moments in U.S. Diplomatic History: Being Gay in the Foreign Service

The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training has published a piece on Moments in U.S. Diplomatic History: Being Gay in the Foreign Service, which draws from an 2000 oral history interview with retired FSO Russell Sveda.

The piece begins:

"Public perception of gay rights, including the right to marry and to serve in the military, has undergone a sea change in the last few years, so much so that President Obama nominated five openly gay ambassadors. However, it was not that long ago when simply being gay meant automatic suspicion as a security risk and often harassment or worse. In these excerpts, Russell Sveda talks about persecution from the Diplomatic Security (DS) bureau, the ensuing bureaucratic battles, and his subsequent 14-year grievance case, the longest in State Department history. He also discusses the fear he and others had when they started the Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies (GLIFAA) in 1992 and the support he received from other FSOs. He was interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy beginning in 2000."

You can read the entire piece here, and you can read the oral history here.