WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry is publicly apologizing for the State Department’s institutional discrimination in the past against gay and lesbian diplomats.
In a statement, Kerry says discrimination suffered by homosexual State Department workers has gone on since the 1940s. He says denying some people jobs and forcing diplomats out of the foreign service was “wrong then” and “wrong today.”
Speaking on behalf of the department, Kerry on Monday apologized to all those who were discriminated against and said the department was committed to “diversity and inclusion for all our employees, including members of the LGBTI community.”