The Foreign Service Journal, June 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2015 17 Employee Plus One: Marriage and the War for Talent BY M I CHAE L GUEST SPEAKING OUT I n 2001, I was sworn in as our country’s first Senate-confirmed, openly gay ambassador. Six years later, I pulled the plug on my Foreign Service career, in protest of the State Department’s refusal to remedy policies that discrimi- nated against gay and lesbian Foreign Service families stationed abroad. Those twin milestones seem like ancient history now. Today partnered gay and lesbian employees are covered by the same transfer, housing, training and other support policies their straight mar- ried colleagues have long enjoyed. The policy changes pioneered at State have become a template for similar accommo- dations across the federal foreign affairs agency community. In addition, six openly gay ambas- sadors, one a career officer, have been tapped by the Obama administration to serve our country. A new special envoy position has been created to strengthen how we integrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues into our broader human rights policy goals. Yet these appointments are less remarkable than the paucity of organized Michael Guest, a Foreign Ser- vice officer for 26 years, served as ambassador to Romania from 2001 to 2004. After retiring in 2007, he co-founded and con- tinues to advise the Council for Global Equal- ity, a coalition of human rights and LGBT advocacy organizations that seek a strong and consistent U.S. voice on LGBT human and civil rights abroad. public or congressional opposition to the notion that LGBT human rights matter, or that a gay person can represent our country abroad. An Easy Write? When the Journal sought my assess- ment of how matters have changed for State’s LGBT employees, I expected it would be a breeze to write. Our country is changing rapidly on these matters, after all, and Foreign Service policies have changed, as well. But as we enter the Obama adminis- tration’s home stretch, department man- agers have proposed an effective end to the same-sex domestic partner program. Such a move would adversely affect LGBT employee families and careers, blemishing in turn both the administra- tion’s and Secretary of State John Kerry’s distinguished record of support for LGBT-fair policies. Ending partners’ equal access to ben- efits would also have negative repercus- sions for State’s Foreign Service mobility needs. It would drop State behind many corporate and multinational employ- ers, too, and set back innovation in how the department retains its talent, gay or straight. Let me explain. The Negative LGBT Impact On its face, the argument for ending the partner program is simple. Marriage equality now exists in 37 states, and a Supreme Court ruling expected soon, perhaps even by the time this article is published, may institutionalize that equality nationwide. But that optimism ignores the situation in many of the countries to which LGBT talent and their families are assigned. Given that navigating foreign cultures is bread-and-butter to the department’s many missions, State should take greater note of that reality. Frommy work with the Council for Global Equality (www.globalequality. org), I naturally see value in having openly LGBT personnel representing our country abroad, particularly in countries where fairness is little understood. Per- sonally, I also support marriage equality and believe strongly in the public and community commitment that marriage represents. My own marriage is perhaps the best decision I ever made. Still, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender friends and colleagues at State and other foreign affairs agencies are keenly aware that overseas postings render decisions on whether to marry their partners complex. They are entitled Department managers have proposed an effective end to the same-sex domestic partner program.