Biden picks gay former ambassador Rufus Gifford for prestigious position as Chief of Protocol

Official Photo of Ambassador Rufus Gifford
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

President-elect Joe Biden has chosen former ambassador to Denmark, Rufus Gifford, to fill an important role in the State Department as he fills out the incoming administration. The out “celebrity” diplomat will be the Chief of Protocol.

Gifford was one of Barack Obama’s top election campaign advisers before being nominated as an ambassador. He was Biden’s deputy campaign manager focused on finance, external outreach, and coalition building.

Related: Denmark is snubbing the new American ambassador over Trump’s attacks on LGBTQ rights

Gifford was referred to as Obama’s unofficial “ambassador to the gay community.” He was named ambassador in 2013, and in 2015 he married his husband Stephen DeVincent in Copenhagen, shortly after marriage equality was legalized in the U.S.

In 2008, Gifford served as an adviser to the Obama campaign. During Obama’s first term, he was the Democratic National Committee’s finance director. In 2012, he was the finance director of Obama’s reelection campaign, before he was named ambassador.

In 2018, he ran for Congress in Massachusetts, but he lost the campaign.

He was incredibly popular with the…

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