James Hormel, America’s first gay ambassador, dead at 88

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Hormel served as the United States’ ambassador to Luxembourg from 1999 to 2000, facing homophobic attacks and fierce opposition to him becoming a foreign envoy.

President Bill Clinton first appointed Hormel to the post of diplomat in October 1997. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced Hormel’s appointment to the full US Senate that year, but a vote was blocked by the Senate. Conservative Republicans, who openly opposed the homosexual rights defense of Hormel.

After renaming Hormel in 1999 for the role, Clinton decided to name Hormel using executive privilege, avoiding Congress during the holidays. “The process has been very long and arduous, arduous, insulting, full of misleading statements, full of lies, full of deception, full of antagonism,” Hormel recalled of his nomination process at a literary event in 2012 promoting his memoir “Fit to Serve”. “

“But when I think about what was accomplished in the process, that’s a minor factor, because ultimately a lot was accomplished. Ultimately, the regulations were changed within the State Department. In the end, other openly gay people were named without the resentment that entered my case. “

Born in Austin, Minnesota, Hormel was an heir to Hormel Foods, the maker of Spam and Skippy. His grandfather, George Hormel, founded the company.

Hormel also served on two separate US delegations to the United Nations before serving as an Ambassador, was the Dean of Students at the University of Chicago Law School where he earned his law degree, and was a co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign.

He has contributed to several causes, including HIV / AIDS service organizations and a breast cancer group, and donated to establish the Gay and Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Public Library.

Hormel resided in San Francisco with her husband Michael Nguyen. Hormel has five children from a previous marriage.

Pelosi, who represents San Francisco and celebrated the couple’s wedding, remembered Hormel as “a beloved figure in our community.”

“As the first openly gay ambassador, he had the courage to be a trailblazer and had the patriotism to accept the challenge,” Pelosi said in a statement, adding that he had paved “the way for a new generation of leaders and (raised) the voice of LGBTQ voices in our foreign policy. ”

The president of the Human Rights Campaign, Alphonso David, called Hormel “a giant of the LGBTQ + equality movement.”

“He was a historic and revolutionary diplomat who showed future generations of LGBTQ + youth that there is no limit to what they can accomplish,” David said in a statement.

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