James Hormel: America’s first openly gay ambassador

Despite facing resistance from homophobic politicians, the activist managed to secure his nomination as ambassador to Luxembourg

Family and friends applaud James Hormel after he is sworn in as US ambassador to Luxembourg at the State Department in Washington in 1999 (AFP/Getty)

James Hormel, who became the first openly gay US ambassador in 1999, has died aged 88.

His nomination was blocked for nearly two years by conservative senators that triggered a long, political battle over gay rights, presidential nominations and Senate procedures.

Hormel, a grandson of the founder of the food company that made Spam, spent most of his life as a little-known law school dean, philanthropist and supporter of gay rights groups.

He was a longstanding contributor to the Democratic Party and, following a practice of both political parties, his largesse led to his nomination in 1997 by president Bill Clinton to be ambassador to Luxembourg. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Hormel 16 to 2 and he seemed all but sure to be confirmed by the full Senate.

He was already in a training programme at the State Department when he learned that three senators, Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas, James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Robert Smith of New Hampshire, all Republicans, had placed a hold on his nomination.

Hormel’s qualifications were not at issue. He had been a dean at the University of Chicago law school, had directed a family investment firm and had served on many civic boards. But under Senate rules, any member could block a nomination from going forward to a full vote. The three senators, later joined by others, opposed Hormel for what they called his support of a “gay agenda”.

Inhofe likened Hormel to David Duke, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan who softened his public image to run for office. Other Republican senators joined in, including majority leader Trent Lott, who aired his views of gay people on a conservative TV talk show, saying: “You should try to show them a way to deal with that problem, just like alcohol… or sex addiction… or kleptomaniacs.”

A film clip of Hormel at a San Francisco gay pride parade appeared to show him laughing at a group of men, dubbed the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, marching while wearing nun’s habits. Lott’s spokesperson said: “Senator Lott opposes the naming of someone who has supported an extremist, anti-Catholic group to represent the United States.”

Echoing the talking points of groups such as the Family Research Council and the Traditional Values Coalition, some senators cited Hormel’s $500,000 (£364,000) donation to the San Francisco Public Library, which used the funds to create one of the world’s largest repositories of gay and lesbian literature. Activists opposed to his nomination discovered that the centre’s collection – which was not selected by Hormel – included pornography and journals related to paedophilia.

“Hormel is a purveyor of smut,” the executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition declared. “Being pro-paedophilia and pro-incest may be the community standard in San Francisco but it is not the community standard in America.”

Members of Hormel’s family came to his defence. New York Times columnist Frank Rich printed parts of a letter written to Lott by Hormel’s former wife, Alice, with whom he had five children.

“I gather his personal ethics have been questioned,” she wrote. “If anyone on this earth could come close to judging that, it would be me… This is a good man. Give him a chance.”

Hormel’s son, Jimmy, who managed the family investment firm with his father, wrote: “Those who oppose my father’s nomination on the premise that sexual orientation affects ‘family values’ are not familiar with the strength of our family. While I was growing up, my father never tried to influence my sexuality in any way. What he did teach me was kindness, acceptance of others, honesty, self-esteem and standing up for what you believe.”

James Hormel is sworn in by Madeleine Albright and witnessed by partner Tim Wu (AFP/Getty)

Hormel’s nomination appeared to be dead in 1998, after Lott failed to advance it to the full Senate for a vote. A year later, Clinton re-nominated Hormel for the vacant ambassadorship. While the Senate was in recess for the Memorial Day holiday, Clinton installed him in the post through a procedural move that did not require Senate approval. Many conservatives were outraged.

A spokesperson for the Family Research Council said: “I think that by forcing Americans to be represented by a radical homosexual activist like Hormel, Clinton is showing his contempt for traditional morality, marriage, sexual fidelity and any concept of honour. Who’s he going to appoint next? Larry Flynt as ambassador to the Vatican?”

Inhofe called Hormel, “an inappropriate representative of our country”, and vowed, along with Lott and other Republicans, to block or delay other Clinton appointments. That plan fell apart after it was revealed that members of Inhofe’s Senate staff had downloaded so much pornography that they almost crashed the office computer system.

Hormel took his oath of office in late June 1999 and served without incident as ambassador to Luxembourg until December 2000.

He said in 2012 while promoting a memoir, Fit to Serve: “The process was very long and strenuous, arduous, insulting, full of misleading statements, full of lies, full of deceit, full of antagonism. Ultimately a great deal was achieved… regulations were changed in the State Department. Ultimately, other openly gay individuals were appointed without the rancour that went into my case.”

James Catherwood Hormel was born on 1 January, 1933, in Austin, Minnesota. His grandfather had founded the Hormel food company in 1891 and his father was chief executive. In 1937, Hormel began to market Spam, a canned meat product that became popular during the Second World War.

Hormel, the youngest of three sons, grew up in a mansion surrounded by servants, chauffeurs and musical instruments, which he became skilled at playing.

He graduated in 1955 from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and received a law degree in 1958 from the University of Chicago. He served as the law school’s dean of students from 1961 to 1967. He once considered running for Congress as a Republican.

In 1965, Hormel and his wife, the former Alice Parker, were divorced after they both realised he was gay. He settled in San Francisco in the mid-1970s and founded a company to manage the Hormel family’s investments and philanthropic contributions.

He routinely gave away a quarter of his annual income to support hunger relief, Aids research, educational programmes and other charitable projects. He helped launch the Human Rights Campaign, now the country’s largest advocacy group for LGBTQ+ rights, and served on the boards of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and San Francisco Symphony, among other organisations.

Hormel had long relationships with Larry Soule and Timothy Wu. Survivors include his husband since 2014, Michael PN Araque (their marriage was officiated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi), five children from his first marriage, 14 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

James Hormel, LGBTQ+ activist and former diplomat, born 1 January, 1933, died 13 August 2021

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