The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted 78-22 to confirm Antony Blinken as the next secretary of state. The vote took place a day after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced his nomination.
Blinken, 58, told U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) during his confirmation hearing he would “repudiate” the Commission for Unalienable Rights that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo created in 2019.
The commission — which LGBTQ advocacy groups have challenged in federal court — sought to stress “natural laws and natural rights.” Pompeo tapped Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard Law School professor and former U.S.
ambassador to the Vatican who is known for her strong opposition to marriage rights for same-sex couples, to chair it. Blinken during his