His term expiring, Garcetti pushes hard for job as ambassador to India
San Francisco’s first openly gay city councilman is in a race to become the nation’s first openly gay ambassador to India.
The city’s gay pride marchers took a strong public stance on gay issues this summer with a “Walk for Equality” parade. Now Garcetti has emerged as the leading candidate to take the highly sought-after position, a role that would have him leading the U.S. delegation for a three-month Asian tour.
As soon as he takes office, Garcetti will have one of the highest offices in California (it’s called ambassador because, well, it’s a post reserved for ambassadors of countries).
The job pays $195,000 a year, plus a $50,000 “allowance,” for a total annual compensation package of $240,000.
As a top federal court has noted in a case involving an openly gay man, “If the salary of an ambassador is not high enough to motivate him to use his power to eliminate discrimination, his salary might be high enough to encourage him to do so.”
Garcetti is on a short list of candidates to replace former Sen. George Mitchell, a Democrat and former Republican, as head of the United States’ National Security Council.
While Garcetti remains a public figure in San Francisco, he has taken a backseat to other candidates in the race to be San Francisco’s next gay ambassador.
San Francisco mayor Ed Lee has been a vocal supporter of gay rights. He was the first San Francisco LGBT leader to make an official appearance at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual convention in 2006.
Lee has also emerged as a leading candidate to be the next mayor of San Francisco after term limits forces him to step down.
Garcetti, 64, has spoken out forcefully against what he calls the “homosexual agenda” by other politicians, saying they are “out to destroy the family.”
He is co-founder of a political action committee called Equality for All, a group of gay and lesbian voters and activists, who meet a week before the June 5 primary election.
