Dominicans Rage Against Obama's Gay Ambassador Pick

Foreign Policy ^ | July 11, 2103 | By John Hudson

[Brad from Tennessee]

Opposition to President Obama's nominee for U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic reached a fever pitch this week as religious organizers stage a "Lunes Negros" or Black Monday protest against James "Wally" Brewster.

If confirmed, Brewster will be the first openly gay ambassador to the country, a prospect that is not going over well with some segments of this conservative Christian country of 9 million people. Local reports indicate that church leaders are pressuring the government to reject Brewster's nomination and calling on the faithful to dress in black on Monday in solidarity against him.

Praise Christian Church Pastor Sauford Medrano is quoted in Diario Libre as saying that Brewster could cause "the U.S. promotion of gender beliefs in the country." That supposedly violates a general education law in the country that "all the Dominican education system is based on Christian principles."

[RipSawyer]

Pinocchio is a puppet, only a real boy can be an idiot. Pinocchio only says and does what the puppetmaster makes him say or do. Even if Pinocchio is an idiot he is accomplishing what the puppetmaster desires. Left to himself Pinocchio would mostly just sit and stare. Pinocchio has never climbed onto the world stage unassisted.

[henkster]

In most of these posts, isn’t the Ambassador just a figurehead, while the Charge d’ Affairs the permanent bureaucrat who really runs the Embassy?

[Fast Moving Angel]

Good question -- I had to look it up. :-) Apparently the Charge d'Affairs is sort of an inferior rank to an Ambassador. From Wikipedia (yeah, yeah, I know):

In diplomacy, a chargé d'affaires (French for "charged with (in charge of) matters"), often shortened to simply chargé, is a diplomat - usually a diplomatic Secretary, Counselor or Minister - who heads a diplomatic mission (e.g., an Embassy) in the absence of its titular (e.g., an Ambassador).

A chargé d'affaires represents his or her nation in the country they are accredited to, and enjoy the same privileges and immunities of a regular Ambassador. In most cases, a chargé would only serve as a chargé d'affaires ad interim, heading the diplomatic mission on a temporary basis in the absence of the ambassador. However, in unusual situations, a chargé d'affaires en pied may be appointed for an indefinite period of time. Chargés d'affaires (ministres chargés d'affaires), who were placed by the règlement of the Congress of Vienna in the fourth class of diplomatic agents, are heads of permanent missions accredited to countries to which, for some reason, it is not possible or not desirable to send agents of a higher diplomatic rank (although the countries maintain diplomatic relations).