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In the Loop

The six openly gay U.S. ambassadors were together in one room

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March 25, 2015 at 11:57 a.m. EDT
Six openly gay ambassadors meet in Washington on Tuesday night. Ambassador to Australia John Berry, Ambassador to the Dominican Republic James Brewster, Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford, Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Daniel Baer, Ambassador to Spain James Costos and Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius (Blake Bergen/GLIFAA)

There was a time when you could be thrown out of the foreign service for being openly gay. In 1997, when the first gay U.S. ambassador, James Hormel, was nominated, many senators opposed him because of his sexuality.

Less than 20 years later, six gay U.S. ambassadors gathered to celebrate progress –but also to underscore the work ahead.