The State Department's Ned Price Speaks for America. He Also Just Made LGBTQ History.

Ned Price just became the first out-gay spokesperson for the State Department. Tim Teeman surveys his career in intelligence—and how coming out helped unlock a powerful gay voice.

Tim Teeman
Senior Editor And Writer

Updated Feb. 08, 2021 5:51AM ET / Published Feb. 08, 2021 4:53AM ET

When Ned Price began work at the CIA in 2006 as an intelligence analyst he was not yet ready to come out. Part of the process of applying for the job involved undergoing a polygraph test, which Price thought might reveal that he was gay. This part of himself, then signifying in his mind a potential for leverage and blackmail, would be out in the open and could spell the end of his aspirations to work in intelligence.

Price was asked by his interviewer if there was anything they had not covered that Price thought was important. Price said he had not been asked about his romantic life. His interviewer said he didn’t want to hear about it, that it was not relevant, and brought the interview to an end. The workplace Price entered seemed fairly progressive, but it still took him some time to come out.

Two weeks ago, Price made history when he was appointed the first out-gay spokesperson at the State Department under its newly appointed Biden-era chief, Antony J. Blinken. Price is America’s voice to the world, speaking out on all areas of international policy and diplomacy. At one of his first briefings he condemned the recent anti-LGBTQ crackdowns unfolding around a university in Istanbul, Turkey. Price told reporters, “We are concerned by detentions of students and other demonstrators and strongly condemn the anti-LGBTQIA rhetoric surrounding the demonstrations.”

Last week, President Biden released a presidential memorandum, making it clear his administration’s commitment to LGBTQ rights worldwide, so expect Price to be as confidently pointed as he was about the anti-LGBTQ crackdown in Turkey as and when the occasion arises. He is settling into the layered meanings of his historic appointment, and the added power of his words when he speaks up on behalf of LGBTQ rights for America.

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