Secretary Clinton responds

Representative Baldwin's office received a response letter yesterday from Secretary Clinton's Actingin Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs. While it would have been nice to get a time line, this is leaps and bounds ahead of what we had during Secretary Rice's tenure.

Thank you for your letter of February 2. As Secretary Clinton made clear in her remarks to employees on February 4, the policies relating to lesbian and gay State Depailment employees are of real concern to her. She views these policies as important not only for workplace fairness and employee retention, but important for their effect on the safety and effectiveness of our embassy communities worldwide.

At her instruction, the Department is reviewing current policies, especially those that are set forth in State Department regulations. Please feel free to contact us further on this or any other matter of concern to vou.

Sincerely,
Michael C. Polt
Acting Assistant Secretary
Legislative Affairs

Advocate: Gay Rights on Fast Track at State Department

From today's Advocate:

Gay Rights On Fast Track At State Dept.

Days after pledging review policies that discriminate against LGBT employees at the State Department, Secretary Clinton said her staff is reviewing inequities and preparing to make appropriate changes "expeditiously."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told participants at a town hall meeting in Washington, D.C. Wednesday that equalizing the treatment of the State Department’s LGBT employees and their partners is being reviewed and “is on a fast timeline” to be remedied.

“We are reviewing what would need to be changed, what we can legally change,” Secretary Clinton said. “A lot of things we cannot legally change by a decision in the State Department. But let’s see what we can determine is within our realm of responsibility, and we are moving on that expeditiously.”

Clinton’s remarks came in response to a question posed by Ralan Hill, a foreign service officer with a same-sex partner, who noted that in an emergency situation abroad, the State Department would be responsible for evacuating him but would have no such obligation to his partner. The department does, however, provide evacuation assistance to heterosexual spouses of officers stationed overseas.

“This is an issue of real concern to me,” Clinton responded. “And even though, as you pointed out, all of our personnel share the same service requirements, the partners in same-sex relationships are not offered the same training, the same benefits, and the same protections that other family members receive when you serve abroad. So I view this as an issue of workplace fairness, employee retention, and the safety and effectiveness of our embassy communities worldwide.”

Clinton signaled that she would review the inequities faced by LGBT employees during her confirmation hearings and momentum has been growing ever since. Earlier this week, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) along with Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), sent a letter to Secretary Clinton asking her to change the discriminatory policies.

“The lack of equitable treatment could force dedicated, intelligent, and needed FSOs (Foreign Service Officers) and officials to make an unfortunate choice between serving their country and protecting their families,” read the letter. “The State Department’s past inattention to these disparities places it below parity with the best employment practices used in the private sector, where the majority of Fortune 500 companies extend employee benefit programs to cover the domestic partners.”

Baldwin and her colleagues singled out the following changes in State Department policy regarding Foreign Service Officers (FSOs):

• Inclusion in travel orders for same-sex domestic partners of FSOs

• Access to training, including all language classes, area studies, and embassy effectiveness classes for same-sex domestic partners of FSOs

• Emergency evacuation and medevac from post when necessary for same-sex domestic partners of FSOs

• Access to post health units for same-sex domestic partners of FSOs

• Visa support for same-sex domestic partners accompanying FSOs to overseas postings, and for same-sex foreign-born domestic partners accompanying FSOs to postings in Washington or elsewhere in the U.S.

• Preferential status for employment at post comparable to that enjoyed by Eligible Family Members (EFMs) for same-sex domestic partners of FSOs

Congressional members sent a similar letter to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last year but the concerns fell on deaf ears. Assistant Secretary Jeffrey Bergner sent a response stating that the department recruits and promotes employees “without regard to sexual orientation” and affords benefits to unmarried partners of employees in accordance with the Foreign Affairs Manual (at 3 FAM 4180). The letter failed to acknowledge any inequalities faced by officers in same-sex relationships.

Sources familiar with the State Department say LGBT employees today are more hopeful than they have ever been about the direction of potential policy changes. Last week, 2,200 government employees (gay and straight) working in foreign affairs signed a letter advocating for fair treatment of LGBT employees that was hand-delivered to Secretary Clinton's office.

Michelle Schohn, president of Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies (GLIFAA), welcomed the support of Congressional members and said she firmly believed policy changes are imminent.

“We are delighted that these members of Congress share our concerns about the inequities facing gays and lesbians in the foreign service,” Schohn said. “I am confident that these are issues that the Secretary already takes seriously.”

Like New Year's Eve/Day

I have to admit, in a geeky sort of way, I am excited about being in the Department right now. Neither my partner nor I have really been here through a transition. Yes, there have been comings and goings, and no, Secretary Rice was not Secretary when either of us joined. Those were transitions of a sort.

But this is different.

So many of the offices are empty. I ran into Secretary-designate Clinton yesterday afternoon in the garage, and tonight I went by Secretary Rice's office. She is gone, of course. Her goodbye was on tv today (at least the State Department's network). I ran into her personal assistant, a career member of the Service. We spent many hours together while the Secretary was in meetings with the Palestinian President, and I found her to be a genuinely nice person. I took it as a personal mission each visit to find her a smoke-free place to be in the Muqata, the Palestinian President's office compound. She told me today this is it for her. She is heading for a well-earned retirement.

It all has me feeling a bit like I do each New Year's. Of course it is true that the New Year may be no better (and maybe even worse) than the last. But just for that moment, the coming year is filled with promise and wonder. Will life be better under team Obama/Clinton than Bush/Rice? How drastically will our foreign policy change? I can't imagine it would stay the same. And if Iraq is no longer our top priority, will the Embassy there be reduced in size?

I wonder too if Secretary Clinton will be more interested in managing the Department than Secretary Rice seemed to be? Will we get more resources? More people? Will Secretary Clinton make the changes she can make with the stroke of a pen to improve the lives of gay and lesbian Foreign Service officers and specialists and their families?

Like I said, things could get worse. But I hope not. Like at the dawn of the New Year, I am cautiously optimistic.

And crossing my fingers.

Rice urges more blacks in foreign policy

I found this today on CNN Wire.

Rice urges more blacks in foreign policy
Posted: 05:59 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday there are too few black Americans in the State Department.

“I have lamented that I can go into a meeting at the Department of State — and as a matter fact I can go into a whole day of meetings at the Department of State — and actually rarely see somebody who looks like me. And that is just not acceptable,” Rice said.

She was delivering the keynote speech at the annual Conference of the White House Initiative on National Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Noting that last year such colleges received $5 million in scholarships and grants from the State Department, for language training, study abroad and exchange programs, she said, “It’s good for the students but it is good for America, too. Because when I go around the world I want to see black Americans involved in the promotion and development of our foreign policy. I want to see a Foreign Service that looks as if black Americans are part of this great country.”
–From CNN’s Charley Keyes

Quite a few blogs are all abuzz with this, particularly some of the more right-leaning ones. The Right Rant, after spewing some racist drivel about the black community, said: "If Condi is to be believed, there are vast numbers of qualified blacks waiting to become diplomats or serve otherwise in the foreign service but, white administrations refuse to hire them because they're black.

Condi diminishes her own impressive accomplishments by invoking race as a job qualification. And she casts doubts on the qualifications of blacks who DO get hired for their experience, education, and knowledge and not their skin color."

How about another option? As an American Indian, I am painfully aware that there are only 35 American Indians in all of the Department of State. So when Secretary Rice says she can go through a whole day and see few people who look like her, I get it. I see none. And I don't believe, and I doubt she does, that the reason for this is that "white administrators refuse to hire them." I do think there are plenty of qualified African Americans and American Indians out there who just don't know that the State Department is an option. I certainly didn't, and never even considered it until my partner joined.

What I think she is saying, and I agree, is that we need to make a conscious effort to reach out to other communities. No one is saying to hire blacks or Indians for their color. But maybe we could recruit a little better at traditionally black or Indian universities to let them know of the opportunities at State. Because the Foreign Service SHOULD look like America. The Foreign Service has been accused of being "pale, male and Yale." We should send men and women of all hues, religions, sexual orientations, etc., abroad to represent us because that is what America is.

A job offer and a visit

First, on the job front. I have received an offer, sort of, from INR Watch, one of the two jobs I bid for in DC. I have the interview with the other, the Operations Center, tonight. The Ops Center is my first choice, but at least I know now that I can be in DC next tour. Now here's the question...do I play the odds on the Ops Center or go ahead and tell INR Watch yes? Ops Center is better for my career, but figuring out whether to accept now, hold off a little while or just say no and go for Ops feels a little like "Deal or No Deal." I should know more tomorrow.

Anyway, if you've been watching the news, you know why I haven't posted in the past few days. The Secretary came for a visit yesterday, and because we are a small post, the Secretary has been here 6 times in a year and a half, and the only visit folks here didn't work on was the one where she had no meetings with Palestinians because she was working on the issue of the war with Lebanon (The Embassy deals with her meetings with the Government of Israel. We are the mission to the Palestinian Authority).

The visit was the most complex of any I have done here, but it all went off fine in the end. She even went to an Iftar with the President, which means we all got fed well as well.

Tomorrow is my last day in the consular section...I was supposed to do half days in consular all this week, but today was the only day I was able to manage it because of the visit.