Obama names openly gay State Dept. official to ambassador post

Obama names openly gay State Dept. official to ambassador post

Staff Reports

Monday, June 10, 2013

President Barack Obama on Monday named Daniel Baer — a former Georgetown professor and current Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor — to be ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), based in Vienna.

Daniel Baer

If confirmed, Baer would become the 4th openly-LGBT person to serve as a U.S. Ambassador abroad, and the first to a multilateral institution.
“Deputy Assistant Secretary Baer has led a distinguished career of public service, both at home and abroad,” said Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president Chad Griffin.
“Over the last few years at the Department of State, Daniel has worked tirelessly to promote democracy and human rights in every corner of the globe, helping to secure and protect the freedoms of the world’s most vulnerable communities. This, paired with his years of global business experience, makes him an outstanding choice to be our nation’s next Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,” said Griffin.
Baer is one of as many as five openly gay ambassadors that Obama is expected to name in coming weeks, according to The Washington Post.