U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Wednesday did not speak about LGBTQ rights abroad during his confirmation hearing to become the next secretary of state.

The Florida Republican in his opening statement to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee noted President-elect Donald Trump “returns to office with an unmistakable mandate from the voters.”

“They want a strong America, a strong America engaged in the world, but guided by a clear objective to promote peace abroad and security and prosperity here at home,” said Rubio.

“The direction he has given for the conduct of our foreign policy is clear,” he added. “Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?”

Trump nominated Rubio a week after Vice President Kamala Harris conceded she lost the presidential election.

Rubio in 2022 defended Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed. The Florida Republican that year also voted against the Respect for Marriage Act that passed with bipartisan support.

LGBTQ rights a cornerstone of Biden-Harris administration’s foreign policy

President Joe Biden in February 2021 signed a memo that committed the U.S. to promoting LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad as part of his administration’s overall foreign policy. A few months later he named Jessica Stern, the former executive director of Outright International, a global advocacy group, as special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad.

Ned Price, who was the State Department’s first openly gay spokesperson, during a May 2021 interview with the Washington Blade noted the decriminalization of consensual same-sex sexual relations was one of the administration’s priorities in its efforts to promote LGBTQ rights abroad.

Trump during his first administration tapped then-U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who has been tapped as special missions envoy, to lead an initiative that encouraged countries to decriminalize homosexuality. Activists with whom the Blade has previously spoken questioned whether this effort had any tangible results.

Stern in 2022 noted the Biden-Harris administration also supported marriage equality efforts in countries where activists said they were possible through legislation or the judicial process.

Brittney Griner in December 2022 returned to the U.S. after Russia released her in exchange for a convicted arms dealer. The lesbian WNBA star had been serving a nine-year prison sentence in a penal colony after a court earlier that year convicted her on the importation of illegal drugs after Russian customs officials found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

The State Department in 2022 began to issue passports with an “X” gender marker.

The Biden-Harris administration in response to the signing of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act sanctioned officials and removed the country from a program that allows sub-Saharan African countries to trade duty-free the U.S. Harris during a 2023 press conference with then-Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, spoke about LGBTQ rights.

Chantale Wong, the U.S. director of the Asian Development Bank, in 2022 became the first openly lesbian woman ambassador. David Pressman, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Hungary, and Scott Miller, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, are two of the other American ambassadors who Biden nominated that are gay.

Outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken in 2021 appointed former U.S. Ambassador to Malta Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley as the State Department’s first chief diversity and inclusion officer.

U.S. Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), who chairs the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized the State Department’s DEI efforts during Rubio’s confirmation hearing.

“The Biden administration often undercut effective foreign policy by inserting ideological and political requirements into the fabric of personnel decisions and policy execution,” said Risch.

“Rather than making hires or promotions based on merit and effectiveness, the department created new diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) requirements that distracted from this mission, undermined morale, and created an unfair and opaque process for promotions and performance evaluations,” he added. “Fealty to progressive politics became the benchmark for success. As we look around the United States that view is diminishing very quickly amongst even large progressive cooperations.”

The 40th annual Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather competition was held on Sunday, Jan. 12 at the Hyatt Regency Washington. The event was one of the highlights of 2025 Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend. Eight competitors vied for the title of Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather 2025, with Jason Elliott named the winner. 

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

Some are asking if the majority of Americans really care, or even understand, what it means if Trump brings a wrecking ball to the rule of law, both here at home, and around the world. 

Our first indication will be how the public reacts, especially Trump voters, to what he does based on his promises to grant clemency to those sentenced for their actions during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the United States Capitol. Trump has called it a day of love; others have referred to it as his failed effort to stage a coup. There can be no debate about the actions of many in the crowd who stormed the Capitol that day, as they are on film. The question for many will be whether Trump grants clemency to any who were sentenced for just being there, or will he grant broad clemency to everyone, including those who were seen breaking windows, destroying property, and injuring police. Let us never forget 140 officers were injured protecting the building, and members of Congress we elected. 

Then there is the issue of the boundaries Trump crossed by calling Supreme Court Justice Alito before his case on the hush money sentencing was decided. Will Trump have these kinds of conversations with other justices when his administration, and even he personally, will have future cases pending before them? Will his administration potentially disregard a court ruling? 

Then we move on to the world stage. Trump has made statements to the effect that he would consider using military force to take Greenland and the Panama Canal. Would he actually consider invading another country without any provocation? Those words, even before any action is taken, make me think of Vladimir Putin and Adolf Hitler. Both men, Trump at one time or another, has said he admires. He has nominated as Director of National Intelligence a person who supported deposed Syrian dictator Assad and Putin. Then he said he would consider economic coercion to get Canada to become part of the United States. Remember, these are all sovereign nations. 

Just knowing that Trump, and many he has chosen to surround himself with, think like this, should frighten all decent Americans, as well as the rest of the world. Trump often says outrageous things like this without any real thought, or knowledge, as to what they entail, and what the repercussions would be. Remember his suggestion about swallowing bleach to battle COVID? Clearly, he often doesn’t know what he is talking about. Some think these statements are just meant as diversions, to take our attention from the outrageous things he is actually doing. Too often the news media takes the bait, and they along with the American people, end up losing track of the real and immediate damage he is doing to the nation. 

It is clear many of these outrageous thoughts seem to come from the last person who whispered in his ear. Today that is often Elon Musk, who has been getting involved in the politics of the United Kingdom, Germany, and other nations. Musk’s closeness to Trump seems based mostly on how much money he has given to Trump and his causes. Some think he may have even promised Trump a few billion dollars after his presidency is over. Other social media moguls, and billionaires, are now clearly trying to kiss Trump’s ass. One who has clearly sealed his lips to Trump’s rear end is Mark Zuckerberg of Meta. His announcement that Facebook will no longer fact check posts because he claims he believes in ‘free speech,’ led to a wonderful meme I recently saw. It said, “Mark Zuckerberg, who passed away recently at the age of 36, a convicted pedophile…” It seems Musk, Zuckerberg, and others have now joined Trump in accepting lying on social media is fine in the name of free speech. Hey, it worked to get Trump elected, and a whole cable network, Fox News, has found how effective lying can be in generating viewers and poisoning the minds of the uneducated, and those who want to believe the bullshit they spout for their own benefit. 

We live in an uncharted time. I think it’s hard to predict what will happen in the next four years. Will people tire of this dangerous, liar, racist, homophobe, misogynist, felon, found liable for sexual assault? Or will they accept all that he does and speaks? I pray they tire of him, and rebel, before he destroys our country.

Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist.