The Foreign Service Journal, June 2015

20 JUNE 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Human Rights for LGBT Persons: Aiming for Sustainable Progress A Q&AWITH SPECIAL ENVOY RANDY BERRY Protecting the existence and rights of the LGBT community has become a core issue in the U.S. human rights mission worldwide. Randy Berry was appointed by the State Department as the first international envoy for the human rights of LGBT persons in February 2015. He joined the Foreign Service in 1993 and has served as consul general in Amsterdam fromAugust 2012 through March 2015 and in Auckland from 2009 to 2012, and as deputy chief of mission at Embassy Nepal from 2007 to 2009. Earlier assignments include Bangladesh, Egypt, Uganda and South Africa, as well as Washington, D.C. He and his hus- band, Pravesh Singh, have a 3-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son. Berry graciously agreed to be interviewed over email by Editor Shawn Dorman in April while he was in transit, leaving his post in Amsterdam and heading for Washington via a few days of leave. Shawn Dorman: What will you do as the Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBT Persons? What’s the job? Randy Berry: I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work hard to protect, preserve and advance the human rights of the global lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. I think it’s important to highlight that my new role isn’t “Special Envoy for LGBT Rights”—it’s “Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBT Persons.” It’s a meaningful distinction, since the con- cept underscores our very approach to these issues—as a core human rights issue, not as a special or boutique issue. In that role, I’ll be engaging in an exciting new public- private type of approach. There are key elements of the job that are inward facing, and those that are more outwardly focused. For the former, I’ll be playing a coordina- tion role, not only within State, but across federal agencies to ensure, as much as possible, that our approach to the global protection of the rights of LGBT persons is uniform, consistent and focused on tangible results. On the latter, in addition to the usual diplomacy we do with governments, an essential part of my job will be to engage robustly with civil society organiza- tions, foundations and businesses, both in the United States and overseas, on promoting greater respect for the essential human rights of these people. SD: Will you have a home bureau? DRL? RB: Yes. One of the most important aspects of the role—to me, and I think to many others who care deeply about the sus- tainability of our efforts—is that the work of the special envoy is entirely coordinated with the other vital work of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. That’s important because we are not working on an issue of special rights— FOCUS ON DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION