One notable name on the list is Michael Guest, one of only two openly gay ambassadors ever to represent the United States overseas. Guest resigned from the foreign service in mid-career last December to protest the State Department’s treatment of same-sex partners of diplomats.

For her team of foreign policy experts, the nation’s third female secretary of state is expected to draw heavily from the staff of the first, Madeleine Albright, who was an early supporter of Clinton’s unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

And to deal with internal Obama administration affairs, State Department bureaucratic politics and media pressures, the former first lady appears set to tap current Senate aides and former White House “Hillaryland” stalwarts, whose reputation for insularity and staunch protectiveness has already set off anxiety among career foreign service officers.

State Department officials say they have been told to expect visits as early as next week from Clinton advisers who are working with President-elect Barack Obama’s incoming transition team. Members of the new administration’s team have been at State since mid-November, getting briefings and visiting officials there. Neither the transition team nor Clinton’s office would comment.

Having an open LGBT person in that position would signal to the world that America will stand up for the human rights of LGBT people everywhere. 

What a powerful symbol that would be of America’s re-commitment to its own founding values of equality, justice, and genuine respect for diversity – values that make this country so great!

Michael Guest is a senior adviser at the Council for Global Equality and the former ambassador to Romania

Go back to the main story for more opinions on where we need LGBT officials.