State Department Finds Its Fight for Gay Rights Abroad Resonates at Home; New York Times, 8/18/15

Andrew Siddons, New York Times; State Department Finds Its Fight for Gay Rights Abroad Resonates at Home:

"From the earliest years of the Obama administration, the State Department has made securing the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people around the world a priority. But the department is increasingly trying to secure equal opportunities for a group much closer to home: its own employees.

Around 50 percent of State Department positions around the world are effectively off-limits for Foreign Service officers who would want to move with their same-sex spouses, according to current and former department employees and Glifaa, an advocacy group for gay and transgender people in the State Department, the United States Agency for International Development, the Peace Corps and other foreign affairs offices in the government. Glifaa’s acronym comes from its original name, Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies...

These disputes could affect 100 to 200 families among the State Department’s 14,000 Foreign Service officers at American embassies and consulates abroad, according to officers’ estimates. (Neither the State Department nor Glifaa keeps an official count.)"