ABOVE: Chantale Wong, photo by Kirth Bobb via Wong’s Facebook.
Breaking a new barrier after the U.S. ambassadorial corps had been previously represented by the LGBTQ community exclusively in the past by gay men, the U.S. Senate confirmed late Feb. 8 the first-ever out lesbian to the position of U.S. ambassador.
Chantale Wong was confirmed as director of the Asian Development Bank, a regional development bank that seeks to promote social and economic development in the Asia-Pacific region, by a bipartisan vote of 66-31. In addition to being the first out LGBTQ lesbian confirmed as U.S. ambassador, she is also the first out LGBTQ person of color confirmed to the role.
After the Jim Hormel became the first openly gay ambassador in 1999 when former President Bill Clinton gave a recess appointment as U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg, all future appointments and confirmations from the LGBTQ community to the position as ambassador had been gay men.
When President Biden took office, LGBTQ rights supporters sense a new opportunity began a renewed push a woman to represent the LGBTQ community in the position as U.S. ambassador. One the stated initiatives of the LGBTQ Victory Institute was the appointment of a lesbian to the ambassadorial corps.
Annise Parker, president of the LGBTQ Victory Institute, said in a statement Wong is “a symbol of hope and strength for LGBTQ leaders and community members fighting for LGBTQ rights across the globe.”
“Millions of people still live in countries that criminalize LGBTQ people and deny them the right to marry, including many members states of the Asian Development Bank. Her appointment is a powerful statement to those nations,” Parker said.
Imani Rupert-Gordon, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said in a statement that Wong’s confirmation demonstrates Biden’s commitment to LGBTQ people.
“When President Biden took office a year ago, he pledged to transform the Executive Branch by including appointments that reflected the full diversity of our great nation – including people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community,” Rupert-Gordon said. “From appointing Secretary Buttigieg and Admiral Rachel Levine – the first Senate-confirmed openly gay and transgender cabinet-level appointments respectively – to today’s confirmation of Ambassador Wong, it is clear that President Biden is intent on fulfilling that promise.”
Wong, formerly CFO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, budget director at NASA and acting budget director of the U.S. Treasury Department, has also served as a U.S. representative to the Asian Development Bank. Wong has a master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and a master’s in Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Her undergraduate degree is in civil and structural engineering from the University of Hawaii.
