Gifford steps down as State Department’s chief of protocol

The State Department’s gay chief of protocol on Monday announced he is leaving his post.

Rufus Gifford in a tweet said he is “ tremendously grateful” to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden “ to have been given the chance to serve as” chief of protocol.

“ Was an honor like no other,” said Gifford.

“ I’ve seen firsthand the positive impact of this State Department,” he added. “ I leave believing in the power of diplomacy more than ever.”

Gifford was the U.S. ambassador to Denmark from

2013-2017.

He unsuccessfully ran for Congress in his native Massachusetts in 2018. The U.S. Senate in December 2021 confirmed Gifford for the State Department position.

“ On behalf of the State Department, I want to thank Rufus Gifford for his service as (chief of protocol),” said Blinken in a tweet. “ Our relationships with countries around the world are stronger because of Rufus and his team’s important work on behalf of our nation.”

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Anti-trans laws left out of Fla. Democrats’ ‘10 Bad Bills’

A spokesperson for the Florida Democratic Party tells the Washington Blade it vows to fight for the repeal of that state’s anti-transgender bathroom bill, which went into effect July 1, after being called out for not counting any anti-trans legislation among “10 Bad Bills” the party recently shared on its social media accounts.

But in the 17 days since the laws went on the books, the Florida Democrats still haven’t made a single social media statement regarding those anti-trans laws. Their last post on the party’s official website even mentioning the trans community was on June 22, after a federal judge blocked Florida’s ban on gender-affirming care, as the Blade reported.

On July 1 and 2, the state Democrats’ official Twitter and Instagram accounts shared a two-page graphic that listed 10 pieces of Republican-supported legislation that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law and is now in effect, laws that Florida Democrats said “take away immigration, health care, education and workers’ rights, threatening our safety and freedom.”

On July 5, YouTuber and photographer Melody Maia Monet from Orlando alerted her Instagram followers of the Florida Democrats’ glaring omission of any mention of anti-transgender legislation, including the new law that prohibits her and every trans person from using the public bathroom matching their authentic gender identity.

“Notice what’s missing? Yeah the horrifically discriminatory anti-trans bathroom ban, that’s what,” Monet wrote. “Guess we are too insignificant to fit into the top 10 or mess up the symmetry to make it a list of 11. Also WTF with calling them ‘preferred pronouns.’ We dropped that language some time ago because our pronouns aren’t a ‘preference.’”

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