Gifford Joins Biden Reelection Campaign

UPDATE: Rufus Gifford, the highest-ranking "openly gay" official at the U.S. State Department, is leaving his post as chief of protocol to become finance chair for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.

In 2021 President Biden had tapped former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford to serve as the State Department's new chief of protocol.

As chief of protocol, Gifford  retained the rank of ambassador. He assisted President Biden and other top U.S. leaders with proper diplomatic protocols when visiting or receiving foreign dignitaries. Gifford also scheduled itineraries for visiting officials from abroad. He had previously served as Deputy Campaign Manager for Biden's 2020 presidential campaign.

This is my original post from October, 2016:

My regular blog readers may recall a post from 2015 reporting the marriage of Rufus Gifford, the U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, to his partner, a veterinarian named Stephen DeVincent, at Copenhagen’s city hall. Among the wedding guests were Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, who had become close friends. Rufus and Stephen were married by the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen. 

The front page of the Wall Street Journal, however, carried a feature article reporting the viral sensation of the ambassador’s reality TV show, “Jeg er ambassadøren fra Amerika” (I Am the Ambassador from America), which averaged about 200,000 viewers per episode. There were 10 installments. Ambassador Gifford won the Danish equivalent of an Emmy for his role, in which he mused about being a gay ambassador and his regrets at not seeing more of his husband, who spent long stretches of time stateside to attend to his job.

Contributing to the success of the show was that fact that Gifford, 42 years old and Hollywood handsome, made sharp, witty comments about what is essentially a boring job – because there is virtually no strife between the two nations. The show followed him around the grand ambassador’s residence, traveling home to Boston to see his parents, making sojourns to Greenland, celebrating a birthday, even spending a night with the elite Danish Frogmen Corps. In the series Gifford steps into his limousine, he steps out of his limousine, he goes to the gym, etc. The series culminated with the ambassador’s wedding to his male partner. A 35-year-old Danish female fan of the show said she wasn’t looking for false drama, like that of other reality shows, but that she savored the scenes when Gifford was at home with Mr. DeVincent and their dog, Argos. But there was that one time when Gifford stripped down to his Calvins to change into a SWAT suit (not disappointing).

As a result of this show, Gifford’s celebrity in Denmark was such that people on the streets shouted, “Hey, Rufus!” and asked him to stop for a selfie, completely forsaking the honorific of his office. And that’s the way he liked it.

All 10 episodes were available for streaming on Netflix: “I Am the Ambassador”. Note from your blogger: Ambassador Gifford is charming beyond description.



















*Note: In 2015 six gay male ambassadors represented our country. They gathered for an event at D.C.’s Newseum: Ambassador to Australia John Berry, Ambassador to the Dominican Republic James Brewster, Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford, Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Daniel Baer, Ambassador to Spain James Costos and Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius. All were appointed by President Obama and approved by congress. Amazing, since homosexuality was until recent times grounds for dismissal from foreign service. When President Bill Clinton nominated openly gay James Hormel for ambassador to Luxembourg in 1997, Hormel was strongly opposed by some Republican members of congress for his sexual orientation, and the appointment was thus stalled. Clinton then used a recess appointment to install Hormel as ambassador in 1999, making him the first openly gay ambassador to represent the U.S. 

Newlyweds Rufus (right) and Stephen leave Copenhagen's city hall: 

 

Ambassador Rufus Gifford

U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford  (right) married his partner, veterinarian Dr. Stephen DeVincent, in a ceremony in Copenhagen on Saturday, October 10.

In an Instagram post, 41-year-old Gifford wrote, “Just married in Copenhagen where the first legal gay partnerships took place 26 years ago. Now heading back to celebrate with our friends and family from all over the world at our residence under the American flag. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined such a perfect day. Life is good.”

Before President Obama nominated Gifford to be the U.S. Ambassador to Denmark in 2013, he was a former official for the Democratic National Committee, Obama for America, and the finance chair of the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

The U.S. Embassy in Denmark also congratulated the newlyweds with an official photo and a post on the Embassy’s Facebook page. Diplomatic relations between in the United States and Denmark began in 1783 when Denmark negotiated a commercial treaty with our new country.

The son of a banker, Gifford is a Boston native who graduated from Brown University in Rhode Island in 1996. A classmate was the daughter of John Kerry, for whom Gifford worked as deputy finance director for the western region, where he supervised the raising of more than $30 million in 2004. Gifford later raised $80 million from California for Obama’s presidential campaign, the largest amount from any state.

James Costos, Ambassador to Spain

Same-sex Partners Occupy
U. S. Ambassador's Residence

When former HBO executive James Costos (b. 1963) was named the United States Ambassador to Spain and Andorra in 2013, his partner of 15 years, interior designer Michael Smith (Ambassador Consort?), moved in with him to occupy the ambassador’s residence in Madrid. Although they became one of the first same-sex couples to make their home in an embassy, Ambassador Costos says he and Smith were welcomed as any other ambassador would be, even though Spain is overwhelmingly Catholic (93%). In spite of religious cultural influence, same sex marriage was legal in Spain (since 2005) many years before it became law in the United States.

Costos was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate on August 1, 2013. When the Obama family spent a 3-day Father's Day weekend with Costos and Smith at their Palm Springs home last year, the press was mute. This is an indication of how much progress has been made regarding same sex couples. Imagine the hoopla that would have ensued if either the Bush or Clinton families had resided under the roof of a same sex couple.

In addition to the ambassador's residence in Madrid, Costos and Smith maintain a penthouse in New York City, a residence in Holmby Hills, CA, and a third abode in Rancho Mirage (Palm Springs). The well-heeled pair met by striking up a conversation on a commercial flight 15 years ago. They have since become an international power couple, and an invitation to their official residence in Spain is much coveted by anybody who is anybody. When they are together in Madrid, Smith refers to his partner as "the Ambassador," as in "Where is the Ambassador at the moment?"

Michael Smith (seated) and Ambassador Costos at the U.S. Ambassador's residence in Madrid, with Glenn Ligon's neon art sign, "Double America." (Photo: James Rajotte)

High-profile designer Smith, whose business is based in Los Angeles, has been the White House decorator since 2008 and is responsible for the 2010 refurbishment of the Oval Office and the Obama’s private quarters (2009). At that time Smith was also appointed to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House. He spends one week a month in Madrid with Costos and works the rest of the time at his office in California, where he oversees a staff of 40. Smith has tweaked the embassy interiors, especially with artwork and decorative accessories, which the couple plans to leave behind for subsequent ambassadors to enjoy. Much of the refurbishment and entertainment expenses have come out of their own pockets.

Costos is concentrating his efforts on Spain’s economic recovery, stressing youth entrepreneurship as a path to tackle Spain's high unemployment rates.

Michael Guest

Trail-blazing former U.S. Ambassador to Romania

One week after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Secretary of State Colin Powell presided over the swearing in of Michael Guest, an openly gay longtime state department employee, as U.S. ambassador to Romania. During the ceremony Powell took the time to respectfully acknowledge Guest's partner of six years, Alex Nevarez. The Human Rights Campaign called Powell’s acknowledgment of Nevarez a “small gesture that spoke volumes.”

Michael Guest was the first publicly gay man to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a U.S. Ambassador. But serving as an openly-gay ambassador under the Bush administration did not prove to be as pleasant as his swearing-in. Guest retired in 2007, and at his retirement ceremony, “he did what few people do — displayed uncommon courage and threw a rhetorical hand-grenade into his own party,” the New York Times reported. “Guest took Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (who was not present) to task for failing to treat the partners of gay and lesbian foreign service officers the same as the spouses of heterosexual officers.” Guest said that was the reason for his departure from diplomatic service.

Quotes from his retirement speech:

“Most departing ambassadors use these events to talk about their successes . . . But I want to talk about my signal failure, the failure that in fact is causing me to leave the career that I love,” said Mr. Guest, 54, whose most recent assignment was dean of the leadership and management school at the Foreign Service Institute, the government’s school for diplomats.

“For the past three years, I’ve urged the Secretary and her senior management team to redress policies that discriminate against gay and lesbian employees. Absolutely nothing has resulted from this. And so I’ve felt compelled to choose between obligations to my partner — who is my family — and service to my country. That anyone should have to make that choice is a stain on the Secretary’s leadership and a shame for this institution and our country,” he said.

“Unlike heterosexual spouses, gay partners are not entitled to State Department-provided security training, free medical care at overseas posts, guaranteed evacuation in case of a medical emergency, transportation to overseas posts, or special living allowances when foreign service officers are assigned to places like Iraq, where diplomatic families are not permitted.”

“This is not about gay rights. … It’s about equal treatment of all employees, all of whom have the same service requirements, the same contractual requirements,” said Guest.

While the Bush administration had previously indicated an unwillingness to outlaw employment discrimination, Guest courageously highlighted the fact that the administration was also practicing it.

Historical note:
When Bill Clinton tried to appoint openly gay Jim Hormel ambassador to Luxembourg in 1997, the Senate blocked him for 21 months. Clinton finally appointed Hormel in 1999 without Senate confirmation while the Senate was in recess.

Updates:

• Former ambassador Guest today serves as senior advisor to the Council for Global Equality. In April of this year a Congressional briefing, moderated by Amb. Michael Guest (ret.), was hosted by the LGBT Equality Caucus to mark the release of the US State Department’s annual Human Rights report. The briefing highlighted trends in the LGBT human rights records of the 194 countries reviewed in this year’s report. Members of the international human rights advocacy community and congressional staff attended the briefing.

• Last month (June 17, 2011), for the first time, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution expressing concern at acts of violence and discrimination committed against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The vote was 23 countries in support, 19 against and 3 abstentions. The United States voted for the resolution. This is the first official UN resolution to focus exclusively on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, and it is the first time that gender identity has ever been included in such a formal UN text. The resolution calls for a study to identify and make recommendations on how to put an end to such fundamental human rights abuses. The study’s release date is set for next year. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “Gay rights are human rights. So are the rights of religious minorities, the disabled and so many others who have been historically ignored or persecuted, not for what they do, but for what they are. This is an important step in the quest for dignity for all. And I am proud that the U.S. is a part of it.”