A copy of Vance’s questionnaire, obtained by The Washington Post and published here for the first time, asked would-be ambassadors if they would increase the number of “gender-neutral bathrooms” in U.S. embassies, boost resources for “gender dysphoria and gender transition care” and raise the “Progress flag” during “regional Pride celebrations.”
“The publics of many of our allies, and those countries we seek to build stronger relationships with, have traditional Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or Hindu moral values,” Vance wrote in the questionnaire he provided to all nominees. “If confirmed, how would you explain to them what the United States’ promoting ‘human rights for LGBTQ people’ would look like in their country?”
Vance’s memo and intensive scrutiny of President Biden’s ambassador nominees reflects his view that cultural elitism has infected America’s diplomatic corps and needs to be rooted out through extraordinary vetting efforts, said U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door meetings.
Neither Vance’s Senate office nor the Trump campaign responded to requests for comment for this story.
For many conservatives, Vance’s oversight was a welcome response to long-standing concerns within the GOP that the United States has elevated left-leaning social values at the expense of American interests and alienating partners in more conservative regions of Africa, Latin America or Asia.
Many liberals saw the move as a bid to prioritize his conservative agenda in a way that delayed qualified nominees from taking assignments critical to maintaining U.S. standing in the world.
For career diplomats, the questionnaire forced a tricky dance as they tried to assuage the Ohio senator without contradicting President Biden’s assertion that LGBTQ rights were “human rights.”
“It puts career diplomats in a bind to be asked to go on the record commenting on how they would support policies that are favored by the current administration but may not be by the next,” said Barbara Stephenson, a former ambassador to Panama who served in senior positions under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
“One party may support climate change agreements or DEI, and another may not,” she added. “Those career diplomats are required to support the policy of the administration in power, even when that means changing positions they have previously argued for or against.”
A year of back-and-forth discussions between Vance and the State Department eventually led to the senator releasing most of his holds in April.
At the height of his campaign, Vance placed holds on more than 30 nominees for Senate-confirmed positions at the State Department. The effect of a hold slows the confirmation process and forces the party in power to call for individual votes instead of the faster method of moving nominations through unanimous consent. The delay leaves vacancies at embassies that are filled temporarily by lower-level officials who don’t enjoy the same status as presidential nominees.
Vance, a Midwest native and best-selling author of the memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” has said the Iraq War played a formative role in the development of his worldview. He was in high school during the 2003 invasion and decided to enlist in the Marines because he “believed the propaganda of the George W. Bush administration that we needed to invade,” he said in an April speech on the Senate floor.
After deploying, he realized that the architects of the war had “lied” and the “promises of the foreign policy establishment of this country were a complete joke,” he said.
Vance brought that suspicion of the establishment into his discussions about ambassadors with Biden’s senior aides, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his top congressional adviser, Assistance Secretary of State Naz Durakoğlu.
None of the nominees whom Vance held up drew his ire like Stephanie S. Sullivan, a career diplomat chosen to be Biden’s envoy to the African Union.
Vance accused Sullivan, the former ambassador to Ghana who had overseen an embassy that flew the Pride flag, of being “woke” and promoting a “progressive social policy” on gender identity.
“Why do we have a diplomatic corps that is taking a hotly contested issue in an American political context and demanding the African nations follow the lead of the far-left instead of doing what they think that they should do?” he said in remarks on the Senate floor.
The State Department said Sullivan’s decades-long career in the Foreign Service were “exemplary” and Vance’s “unfounded criticism against her work do not accurately reflect her service to our country.”
Liberal critics of Vance question his opposition to the U.S. playing an active international role on LGBTQ issues.
“The United States has a responsibility to champion human rights around the globe — and that includes the freedom for LGBTQ+ people to live and love without fear,” said Brandon Wolf, a spokesman with the Human Rights Campaign. “Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are cut from the same anti-LGBTQ+ cloth and have made clear that, should they get the keys to the Oval Office, they will demolish America’s values on the world stage.”
Vance’s defenders say his efforts will help make U.S. diplomacy in the developing world more successful.
“It is not out of line to insist that ambassadors are professionally-suited to focusing on the job at hand, as opposed to trying to push what, in most of these countries will be viewed as ultraradical social issues,” said Wade Miller, vice president of the conservative think tank Center for Renewing America. “Vance is in the upper tier of Republicans who have been talking about these issues and taking them on seriously.”
The State Department said the Biden administration stands by its efforts to “ensure that every person, everywhere, can live free from violence and discrimination, with their equal rights respected.” The White House has vowed to push back against the GOP’s anti-woke efforts, including by repealing a provision in a government spending bill that essentially bans rainbow Pride flags from being flown above U.S. embassies.
Politico reported last July that Vance had sent the questionnaire to nominees but did not obtain a copy of the document and Vance declined to provide it. Unlike other GOP firebrands known for holding up presidential nominees like Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) or Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Vance’s extensive efforts were unique in that he does not sit on the committee that oversees the nominations — in this case, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
While Vance’s skepticism of Biden’s nominees ran deep, officials said he asked sincere questions about the threats and challenges in various countries. By April, Vance and State Department personnel broke through the year-long logjam after he felt confident that the administration would not place ideology over national security considerations, said the officials familiar with the discussion.
At that point, he let roughly 30 nominations go forward except for two: Sullivan and David Kostelancik, Biden’s pick for ambassador to Albania.
Last month, Sullivan was confirmed through a Senate procedure known as cloture. Kostelancik still awaits confirmation.
