The high-level government position to which I would most like to see an openly gay person appointed is that of Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe says that gay people are “lower than dogs and pigs.”

Iranian president (and genocide inciter) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tells Americans that gay people don’t even exist in his country, perhaps because his government has killed so many of them.

The Saudi Arabian regime beheads gay men, the Ugandan government imprisons and tortures gay activists and Palestinian gays flee the horrific oppression of the Palestinian Authority for the freedom of Tel Aviv.

A crucial component to any American president’s foreign policy must be the strengthening and spread of democracy and liberty around the world. What a terrific message it would send, particularly to illiberal and totalitarian regimes, if the United States were to appoint an openly gay person to a high-ranking State Department position committed to the furtherance of human rights abroad.

 James Kirchick is assistant editor at The New Republic

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