Conservatives ask Trump to nix pro-LGBTQ State Dept. employees

GayRVA Staff
December 19, 2016

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Read More: Exxon, Family Research Council, State Department, Trump

Activists on the right have asked President Elect Trump to remove any and all State Dept. employees who would support LGBTQ and pro-choice issues.

In a statement released last week, the Family Research Council has asked Trump to “make clear that these liberal policies will be reversed” and remove any nominations or people who could be supportive of LGBTQ causes.

The State Department has a number of responsibilities from dealing with international economic policy to supporting ambassadors and arms control.

Obama had used his power to appoint officials that often sought equality across the board – from LGBTQ issues to women’s rights and more. In 2013, he nominated (with Senate support) four openly gay ambassadors: Daniel Baer to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, John Berry as the Ambassador to Australia, Rufus Gifford as Ambassador to Denmark, and James Costos as Ambassador to Spain.

Prior to those appointments, there had been only two openly gay ambassadors: James Hormel, appointed Ambassador to Luxembourg in 1999 by Bill Clinton, and Michael Guest, appointed ambassador to Romania in 2001 by George W. Bush.

FRC, beyond asking to secure no support for progressive issues in the department, said they took issue with Trump’s current proposed appointee to head the deparment, Exxon executive Rex Tillerson, because of his company’s inclusive LGBTQ policy – even though some activists believe the company continues to discriminate.

“I certainly don’t see Tillerson cut from the same cloth as Clinton or Kerry, but he doesn’t have to be for these anti-life, liberal social policies to continue,” wrote FRC’s president Tony Perkins. ”He must have the courage to stop the promotion of this anti-family, anti-life agenda, which is very much a question mark given that he capitulated to activists pushing to liberalize the Boy Scouts’ policy on homosexuality when he was at the helm of the organization.”

Tillerson faces senate approval before he could take the post, but his connections to Russia through his oil business dealings seem to be a bigger deterrent then his policies on LGBTQ inclusion.

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