When I was moving the blog, I realized I’d done a disservice to both my readers and Digger, a fellow FS blogger, by accidentally replacing her interview with another one. I’d been trying to figure out how to rectify it, when over the weekend I saw this Washington Post article. (Some doubts apparently remain.) It seemed like a perfect time to re-print this phenomenal interview. This was part of a series in which I asked FSOs two questions. 1) Please share your best FS story or greatest FS achievement. 2) What is the biggest foreign policy challenge the U.S. faces? Digger’s answers to both are excellent, and you’ll find more of her thoughts and words at her blog, Life After Jerusalem. (This interview was originally given on 13 February 2009.)
1. You end up with so many stories in the foreign service, it is hard to come up with just one that is the best, especially if you have done a consular tour. Let’s just say, we are all a hit at cocktail parties, if for nothing else than our crazy (and often naked) American stories! And let me tell you, you get a bunch of those in Jerusalem.
So I think I will focus instead on my greatest achievement so far. It is actually one that is in process, and I have no idea when it will be complete. I gave up a career I loved, archaeology, and joined the foreign service because my partner joined the service and I found being a Member of Household (MOH) too difficult. She was serving in a former Soviet country, and though we had been together at that time for more than two years and were married in our church, I had none of the benefits of our heterosexual married friends, many of whom had been together for a shorter period of time. I did not get a dip passport or a visa for longer than one month at a time. I had no diplomatic protections and could have been targeted at any time should the host government have decided that would be a good way to get to my partner. I would not have necessarily been evacuated had there been a problem there (and there were riots during her tour), and could not have gotten a job there or even a band-aid from the medical unit. So I spent most of her two-year tour in the states. I decided that it was better to try to join the Foreign Service than to either be at personal risk or spend our careers apart.
I am fortunate in that I was able to join the service at all (a lot of people who really want to don’t make it) and that I was able to do it relatively quickly. But not everyone can make that choice, and no one should be forced to. So when I came back to the states, I resolved to become involved with GLIFAA (Gays and Lesbians In Foreign Affairs Agencies) with the goal of getting equal treatment for same-sex partners. If you have been reading the papers and blogs (including mine) lately, you know that we are making progress. We have an administration now that sees this as a workplace fairness issue (because same-sex partners are the only ones with absolutely no means of becoming an EFM. Opposite-sex partners can choose to get married, adult children and parents can be declared dependents, etc) as well as one of safety and effectiveness in our embassies and consulates overseas. Secretary Clinton has met with the presidents of all the “affinity groups,” including GLIFAA, and seems genuinely engaged in the issues.
So I think that one day, hopefully soon, I will be able to say that I played a role in achieving equality for same-sex partners so that none of them had to make the choice I made. I am deeply proud of my service and have no regrets about making it a career. And the Department has been good to me and my partner (although occasionally doing silly things like forcing us to have a second apartment when they knew we would be living at one until we protested that it was a waste of taxpayer money), treating us as an “unofficial tandem.” But not everyone can or should join the Foreign Service. And I hope to be able to say I helped make it so that no one has to choose between their family that needs them and a country that needs them.
2. I think our greatest foreign policy challenge is restoring America’s position in the world. We have come to be thought of as arrogant, as a bully and occupier. America of course has to be strong in the world. We can’t back down from our challenges or our responsibilities, and we can’t sacrifice our security. But we can resume working more closely with our allies on issues in the world. We can do a better job of explaining our positions than “you’re either with us or against us.” And we can start that by restoring the State Department’s position in the foreign affairs arena. We need to fully fund the Department, particularly the Public Diplomacy aspects of the Department. Diplopundit has a piece referring to DOD hiring 30,000 people for public affairs. That is almost five times as many public affairs personnel as the Department has diplomats. Even Defense Secretary Gates thinks we need more money and to handle much of what has been handed over to our already overburdened military.
I love this country. I get teary-eyed when I hear the National Anthem. Every single time. I am an American Indian, so I have always seen this country without rose-colored glasses. But it is, for all its warts, the best country there is. I want the world to admire America again the way I admire it. I want us to be the shining city on the hill again and I think we can be. I also think that is our greatest foreign policy challenge. I hope one day I can count as one of my achievements helping with that too, in whatever small part I can do.
