The Foreign Service Journal, June 2015

8 JUNE 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Advancing Diversity and Inclusion BY SHAWN DORMAN T Shawn Dorman is the editor of The Foreign Service Journal. to evolve, pick up speed and gain vis- ibility. We begin our focus with a look at the current highest-profile diversity and inclusion issue, rights for LGBT persons (a category that encompasses lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, but can include other gender identities and allies, as well). All eyes are on the Supreme Court and its imminent decision on marriage equality. The foreign affairs agencies continue to grapple with the changing landscape, both internally for their employees and externally, as they manage and advance diversity and inclusion issues. This spring, the State Department established a new position—Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBT Persons—and tapped FSO Randy Berry to carry the message of inclusivity both at home and abroad. Just before taking up his post in May, Mr. Berry told us about plans for the new role and the ways he’ll try to coordinate across federal agencies to ensure that the U.S. approach to the global protection of the rights of LGBT persons is consistent and focused on tan- gible results. Find out more in that Q&A, “Aiming for Sustainable Progress.” In “How Far We’ve Come, How Far We Have to Go,” GLIFAA President Selim Ariturk offers his take on progress for both the group—founded in 1992 as Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies—and the issue, and challenges that remain. Next, FSO Richmond Blake presents an overview of how the United States is working overseas to promote an LGBT- inclusive human rights agenda. In our Speaking Out column, “Employee Plus One: Marriage and the War for Talent,” retired Ambassador Michael Guest lauds the major steps toward equality LGBT federal employees have taken, but warns that this is not the right time for State to end the Same-Sex Domestic Partners program. Considering diversity and inclusion more broadly, FSO Lia Miller looks at two innovative programs that help bring diversity into the Foreign Service, the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship and the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program. Then Consul General Jennifer Zimdahl Galt and entry-level FSOThao Anh Tran team up to discuss the power of mentorship to sustain that diversity into the senior ranks. Finally, in “Making Diversity Real,” four affinity groups—Disability Action Group, Blacks In Government, Execu- tive Women @ State and the newly established Arab-Americans in Foreign Affairs—give an overview of their work. We will feature other affinity groups in future issues of the Journal . As Amb. Pickering and Amb. Perkins say in their Washington Post op-ed, “U.S. foreign policy is informed and improved by a wider range of experiences, under- standings and outlooks. To represent America abroad and relate to the world beyond our borders, the nation needs diplomats whose family stories, language skills, religious traditions and cultural sensitivities help them to establish con- nections and avoid misunderstandings.” Read on to find out more about how that’s going. n he Foreign Service Act of 1980 says that the United States should have a professional Foreign Service that is repre- sentative of the American people. The 2015 Quadrennial Diplomacy and Develop- ment Review for the State Department and USAID echoes that call. But does the Foreign Service look like America? Not yet. “The Foreign Service Is Too White,” Ambassadors Thomas R. Pickering and Edward J. Perkins lament in a May 18 Washington Post op-ed. The most recent statistics available from State’s Office of Human Resources show that as of 2012, 80 percent of State FS officers and specialists were white, 7 percent black, 5.7 percent Hispanic/Latino and 6.6 percent Asian-American. Of the total, 34.8 percent were women. In contrast, the U.S. popula- tion in 2013 was about 62 percent white, 17 percent Hispanic/Latino, 12 percent black and 5 percent Asian-American. Of the total, 51 percent were women. Those numbers do not tell the whole story, of course. For about the last 20 years, the State Department recruitment division has prioritized bringing inmore minority candidates, chiefly by working to raise awareness among underrepresented groups of the Foreign Service as a potential career path. But awareness and hiring are only the first major hurdles. The next is retention, and the jury is still out on that. Meanwhile, the national conversation about diversity and inclusion continues