As a rule, retirement ceremonies for largely unknown U.S. ambassadors are low-key, dull, and not even remotely newsworthy. There are, however, exceptions.
In 2001, Bush named Michael Guest to be the U.S. Ambassador to Romania. Because Guest is an openly-gay man, the nomination was noteworthy, particularly in this administration. The Senate confirmed Guest without incident, and though some religious right groups complained bitterly, Guest stood alongside his partner at the State Department’s signing-in ceremony.
Nearly seven years later, Guest has retired, wrapping up a 25-year career as an American diplomat. But before he goes, the mild-mannered Guest has a few parting words for the administration he’s served.
Before friends, colleagues and top officials in the State Department Treaty Room, Mr. Guest took Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (who was not present) to task for failing to treat the partners of gay and lesbian foreign service officers the same as the spouses of heterosexual officers. And he revealed — with eloquent sadness, not anger — that this was the reason for his departure.
“Most departing ambassadors use these events to talk about their successes … But I want to talk about my signal failure, the failure that in fact is causing me to leave the career that I love,” said Mr. Guest, 50, whose most recent assignment was dean of the leadership and management school at the Foreign Service Institute, the government’s school for diplomats.
“For the past three years, I’ve urged the Secretary and her senior management team to redress policies that discriminate against gay and lesbian employees. Absolutely nothing has resulted from this. And so I’ve felt compelled to choose between obligations to my partner — who is my family — and service to my country. That anyone should have to make that choice is a stain on the Secretary’s leadership and a shame for this institution and our country,” he said.
This wasn’t just about gay rights in general; Guest was fairly specific about the undeniable discrimination he’s seen first-hand.
Among the inequities cited by Mr. Guest and other gay diplomats: unlike heterosexual spouses, gay partners are not entitled to State Department-provided security training, free medical care at overseas posts, guaranteed evacuation in case of a medical emergency, transportation to overseas posts, or special living allowances when foreign service officers are assigned to places like Iraq, where diplomatic families are not permitted. […]
“This is not about gay rights . . . It’s about equal treatment of all employees, all of whom have the same service requirements, the same contractual requirements,” Mr. Guest — who was the first openly gay diplomat to be confirmed as ambassador and take his partner on his overseas posting — said in his farewell speech.
And no, in case you’re curious, Rice has not responded to any of Guest’s concerns, neither before nor after his noteworthy speech.
The NYT editorial board concluded, “It’s also foolhardy since the two conflicts have put such strain on American resources that personnel shortages are commonplace. The government should be doing everything in its power to retain its best and brightest, beginning with treating them equally.”
Sounds like an inequity a Democratic president should be willing to fix in 2009.