Highlights on LGBTQ life in the Foreign Service from interviews with: Hammad Hammad: https://youtu.be/H_FdttcQioU Lawrence Randolph: https://youtu.be/VCTIRjVoZQ8 Watch Part 2: https://youtu.be/PzbGWU3HzRI Explore the series: https://www.diversediplomacy.com/

Highlights on LGBTQ life in the Foreign Service from a panel discussion with Antonio Agnone, Elizabeth Lee, and Austin Richey-Allen. Watch the full conversation: https://youtu.be/IvqxGMh9CEo Watch Part 1: https://youtu.be/HbA3JBT47J8 Explore the series: https://www.diversediplomacy.com/

Austin Richey-Allen joined the U.S. Department of State as a consular-coned Foreign Service Officer in 2011. He is currently the Visas Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal. Austin’s previous assignments include the U.S. Embassy in Manila, the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, and domestic positions in the Bureau of Consular Affairs in the offices of Fraud Prevention Programs and American Citizen Services. Austin received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota Law School and his Bachelor of Arts from Sarah Lawrence College. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he worked as an attorney in Minneapolis. He grew up in Massachusetts and is accompanied by his wife Anna (also a Foreign Service Officer) and his daughter Tabitha. Austin is a proud representative and advocate for transgender employees and family members in the State Department, and was the Policy Director for glifaa (LGBT+ Pride in Foreign Affairs Agencies) from 2019-2020. Antonio G. Agnone is a career diplomat serving a one-year assignment in Islamabad, Pakistan before he returns to Brasilia, Brazil as the Consular Chief. He specializes in Southeast Asian and Western Hemisphere affairs including issues of bilateral extradition, international parental child abduction, protection of U.S. citizens abroad, and disaster recovery. In addition to Brasilia and Islamabad, he served at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, the U.S. Embassy in Algeria, the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan, and the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See. Mr. Agnone speaks fluent Italian and Portuguese and has qualified in Urdu and French. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Agnone served in the United States Marine Corps as a Combat Engineer. He served two tours of duty in Iraq’s Al-Anbar province focusing on improvised explosive devices. His experience in the military led him to LGBT advocacy where he served as a fellow for the Human Rights Campaign spearheading the initiative to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Mr. Agnone graduated from Ohio State University and earned a master’s degree while active duty in the Marine Corps from Webster University. Originally from Ohio, he now lives in Brasilia with his spouse. Consul General Elizabeth K. Lee serves as the U.S. Consul General in Thessaloniki, Greece. Ms. Lee is a career member of the Foreign Service with over thirteen years’ experience as a foreign policy leader, manager, and negotiator on a diverse range of regions and issues, including the Middle East, East Asia, and the United Nations Security Council. Previous assignments include the U.S. Embassies in Seoul and Baghdad, the former U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City, and the Israel and Palestinian Affairs Desk at the State Department in Washington D.C. Ms. Lee holds an M.A. degree in Public Policy and International Affairs from Princeton University, a law degree (J.D.) from the University of Minnesota, and a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Grinnell College. She is proficient in Greek, Korean, and Hebrew, and has studied Arabic and Spanish. She is a native of California and is accompanied by her Golden Retriever, Pumpkin, aka Kolokithoula. She was the President of glifaa (LGBT+ Pride in Foreign Affairs Agencies) from 2018-2019. Learn more about Diverse Diplomacy https://www.diversediplomacy.com/​ Produced with support from the Una Chapman Cox Foundation's project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service. Recorded: February 19, 2021

Lawrence Randolph joined the U.S. Department of State as a career Foreign Service Officer in 2003. He is slated to be the next Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Casablanca, Morocco. He is currently a Senior Advisor in the Bureau for Global Talent Management (GTM). Prior to this assignment, he was the Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. at the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, Algeria from 2016-2019. As the Deputy Chief of Mission, Lawrence managed a team of almost 500 and oversaw the transition of the Embassy from an unaccompanied to fully accompanied mission. Lawrence has also served as Public Affairs Officer in U.S. Consulate General Frankfurt, Germany where he coordinated all Public Affairs programming in Southwest Germany. His additional prior overseas postings include Kabul, Dhahran, and Cairo. Lawrence speaks Spanish, French, Arabic, and German. He holds a Bachelors degree from Morehouse College and a Masters Degree from Columbia University.

Hammad serves as a Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State. Prior to his current assignment, Hammad served as a political officer at the U.S. Embassy Mexico City from 2016 to 2019; as an economic and commercial officer at the U.S. Mission to Libya, based in Tunis; as a Political officer and Vice Consul in Caracas, Venezuela; and as the Kuwait desk officer in Washington, DC. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Hammad served as a Fulbright Scholar in the Netherlands and co-founded an NGO called Inspire Dreams which worked in refugee camps in the West Bank. A native of California, Hammad has a Master’s Degree in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a bachelor’s degree in International Politics from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.