Tag Archives: diplomacy

Via the Associated Press: The United States and Cuba will start talks on normalizing full diplomatic relations, marking the most significant shift in U.S. policy toward the communist island in decades, American officials said Wednesday. The announcement comes amid a series of new confidence-building measures between the longtime foes, including the release of American Alan Gross and the freeing of …

Yesterday Ted Osius was sworn in as the US ambassador to Vietnam and in the clip below he introduces himself in Vietnamese. Featured in the video is his husband and their son. Osius is the seventh openly gay ambassador to take office during the Obama administration.

Two weeks ago the Senate finally confirmed former HRC board member Wally Brewster as the US ambassador to the Dominican Republic, where local Catholic leaders have denounced his appointment. Shortly after his confirmation, Brewster married his partner, Bob J. Satawake. Brewster and his husband have posted a video message to the Dominican Republic. CNN reports: The welcome message from America’s …

“You pick up your cell phone and you call somewhere in Nebraska and you say, ‘OK let it go.’ So there’s an atomic weapon, goes over, ballistic missiles, the middle of the desert, that doesn’t hurt a soul. Maybe a couple of rattlesnakes, and scorpions, or whatever. And then you say, ‘See! The next one is in the middle of …

In what may have been payback for the arrest of a Russian diplomat, a senior Dutch diplomat was assaulted in his Moscow apartment last night. After beating and tying up the man, his assailants used lipstick to scrawl “LGBT” on his bathroom mirror. The attack happened on Tuesday evening when Onno Elderenbosch, the deputy chief of the Dutch embassy in …

With the theme song from Golden Girls.

As civil unrest intensifies, the United States has closed its Syrian embassy and ordered diplomats to leave the country. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said President Bashar al-Assad has chosen a “dangerous path” in dealing with the 11-month-old uprising, adding that the United States remains “gravely concerned over the escalation of violence.” On Saturday, Russia and China vetoed a …

Remember last year when the Family Research Council paid lobbyists $25,000 to convince Congress NOT to denounce the gay death penalty in Uganda? How fucking DARE the president interfere with their plan to see you dead!

Their link goes to the full written text of Clinton’s speech.

You won’t regret making the time to watch every minute of this historic speech in support of LGBT rights. Our enemies will surely make this the centerpiece of every bit of vitriol they spew for the next eleven months.

President Obama today issued an unprecedented directive that federal agencies should work to promote and protect LGBT rights in foreign countries. The Human Rights Campaign reacts: The presidential memorandum is the first ever U.S. government strategy to deal with human rights abuses against LGBT people abroad. It directs all government agencies that engage in foreign affairs to promote LGBT human …

As Greater Wingnutistan went crazy because he bowed to the emperor of Japan, President Obama spoke to China in a nationally televised address. Obama has been described by some newspapers as having “rock star” status in China, where his ethnicity has brought forth a rarely seen public discussion on China’s problems with racial discrimination.

“It’s time to get a jackhammer and to simply chip off that part of New York City and let it float into the East River, never to be seen again! It’s time to say enough of the American taxpayer’s dollar being spent on something that may have been a noble idea, but has become a disgrace! It has become the …

Secretary of State Clinton has ruled that the State Department will grant equal benefits to gay diplomats. In a notice to be sent soon to State Department employees, Clinton says regulations that denied same-sex couples and their families the same rights and privileges that straight diplomats enjoyed are “unfair and must end,” as they harm U.S. diplomacy. “Providing training, medical …