Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Barack Obama was the first African-American president of the United States. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.
Rufus Gifford: This Gay Man Is the Face of America to World Leaders
To foreign leaders conducting official business with the U.S., Rufus Gifford is the face of America — or, at least, the first face they see.As chief of protocol at the State Department, Gifford is the first point of contact for those leaders.
It’s the second-highest-ranking position in the department — behind only Secretary of State Antony Blinken. It makes Gifford, who is gay, the top-ranked out official at State, and it’s ambassador-level.Ambassador is a position Gifford’s familiar with.
He was U.S. ambassador to Denmark from 2013 to 2017, and he became something of a celebrity there as the subject of a prime-time documentary series.
That’s also where he got married to veterinarian Stephen DeVincent in 2015. He’s held other impressive jobs, having been national finance director at the Democratic National Committee, worked in Barack Obama’s and Joe Biden’s presidential campaigns, and run for Congress.
