The Foreign Service Journal, April 2012

12 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 1 2 on the political front, however. On Feb. 25, Prime Minister Garry Conille resigned after just four months in of- fice, with no successor in sight. Reuters reports t hat his ouster follows a series of increasingly public clashes withMar- telly over earthquake reconstruction contracts and a parliamentary investi- gation into dual citizenship of govern- ment ministers, which is illegal under Haitian law ( www.reuters.com). Conille, a 45-year-old medical doctor and U.N. development expert, was popular with foreign aid donors and many members of the interna- tional community, so his departure is likely to slow down progress even fur- ther. Though more than 100 countries pledged a total of $5 billion for recon- struction at a March 2010 United Na- tions–sponsored donor conference for Haiti, they have delivered barely half of that total two years later. While the United States has contributed less than a third of the $914 million it pledged, it still leads the rest of the world by a large margin, according to a report in the Jan. 11 Guardian ( www.guardian.co.uk ). One of the leading private charities on the rebuilding front is the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund ( www.clintonbush haitifund.org ). H eaded by former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, the organization has raised more than $54 million thus far, and uses a va- riety of approaches and programs to stretch its donations. The fund’s bot- tom-up approach encompasses 34 dif- ferent aid programs of various sizes in fields ranging from solar energy to ar- tisan exports and work-force develop- ment. On Jan. 16, CNN reports, Laurent Lamothe, Haiti’s minister of foreign and religious affairs, named actor Sean Penn an Ambassador at Large for Haiti during a fundraiser at the Cin- ema for Peace in Beverly Hills, Calif., that raised over $5 million. Penn was honored for his charity work, which in- cludes leading the construction of a camp for tens of thousands of Haitians ( http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com ). — David J. Barton, Editorial Intern Happy 20th Birthday, GLIFAA! On March 8, 1992, Gays and Les- bians in Foreign Affairs Agencies ( www.glifaa.org ) w as born over brunch in the living room of David Buss and David Larson. The couple had invited about a dozen other State Department and USAID employees who, like Buss, were under criminal investigation by the Bureau of Diplo- matic Security because of allegations they were homosexual. A few weeks later, GLIFAA ar- rived at a consensus on a name for the group, drafted bylaws and poli- cies, and began reaching out to AFSA, State’s Office of Equal Em- ployment Opportunity and other al- lies. Though it grew slowly at first, the organization now has more than 300 members, including a network of post representatives who help to ad- dress the needs of members and al- lies serving overseas. The issuance of a non-discrimina- tion policy by Secretary of State War- ren Christopher in 1993 was one of the organization’s early successes. It has also worked closely with State and other foreign affairs agencies to de- velop and implement rights and privi- leges for same-sex partners of employ- ees overseas. In the summer of 2009, the De- partment of State granted Eligible Family Member status to domestic C Y B E R N O T E S CHANGE OF ADDRESS Moving? Take AFSA With You! Change your address online, visit us at http://www.afsa.org/ address_change.aspx Or Send change of address to: AFSA Membership Department 2101 E Street NW Washington, DC 20037