Update: This article has been corrected to say that Elizondo is only the first Latino social secretary, not the first gay man. Obama named Jeremy Mill Bernard as the first openly gay man to the position in 2011.
Keeping true to his vow to have a diverse White House staff and cabinet, President-elect Joe Biden has named Carlos Elizondo, an out gay man, as his incoming White House social secretary.
Metro Weekly reports that Texas-born Elizondo will become the first Latino person to serve in the role of White House social secretary. He’s also a gay man Elizondo had previously served as a social secretary for Biden and incoming First Lady Dr. Jill Biden during their years in the Obama Administration.
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In addition to his time in politics, Elizondo also had done work as Senior Director of Presidential Events at Georgetown University, and a Manager of Special Activities and Protocol at Walt Disney World.
Elizondo and his longtime boyfriend–whose name is generally kept out of the press to protect his privacy–live in Washington DC.
The naming of Carlos Elizondo as White House social secretary comes less than a day after an announcement by the Trump Administration that it would go ahead with a transition to the incoming Biden Administration despite Trump’s repeated (and unfounded) claims of massive voter fraud in the 2020 Election. Elizondo is, so far, the highest-ranking openly queer official named in the incoming administration, though he will almost assuredly not be the last. Karine Jean-Pierre, the openly lesbian chief of staff for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, has been hotly tipped to land the job of White House Press Secretary. In addition, Mayor Pete Buttigieg–one of Biden’s most vocal campaign surrogates–is also widely expected to nab a key administration position.
moretruth
Social Secretary? Good god, that’s the gayest post there is. Good for him. That said, Mayor Pete better get a good gig.
DarkZephyr
Agreed. Buttigieg was a real force for Biden’s campaign efforts. He deserves something good.
trsxyz
The gayest post indeed! Am waiting in a anticipation of Mayor Pete’s appointment….
Roy Ajax
Biden appoints an openly gay man as the official White House party planner and people are praising him for making such a diverse choice. Trump appointed openly gay Richard Grenell as the ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence, and it generated barely a blip on this site.
Thad
Oh, Richard Grenell has often been mentioned on Queerty. But rarely positively. The Germans didn’t care for him at all.
DarkZephyr
We aren’t going to praise Trump who has worked so hard to screw with LGBT rights for appointing a self loathing sycophant who has gone out of his way to distance himself from being seen as somebody who actually identifies in any way with the LGBT community.
Kangol2
What are you talking about? Grenell was mentioned on here more than once. He was Don the Con’s token gay, and he was a disaster as US Ambassador to Germany. The German diplomats, authorities and press detested him. He was just as bad as Director of National Intelligence, a post he held for an eyeblink. Please at least get your stories correct you start your grievance tour about Don the Con’s inept, corrupt, treasonous maladministration.
Cam
Grenell was an insult to Germany. He was unqualified, and he was also mentioned multiple times on here.
So I’m curious, when you decide to play the victim, do you bother to do a search of the site to see if you’re lying, or do you just lie and figure nobody will call you out?
Harriman
please roy, skip away
Roy Ajax
@Cam.
I’m not going to run down Grenell’s qualifications for being ambassador because it’s clearly out there if you do a qick google search. You constantly call for proof, but never have I seen you actually offer proof to back your claims. So how was he unqualified? I need evidence I can research. You’re right that he was mentioned here, but only to state how terrible he is for being a Republican.
DarkZephyr
@Roy Ajax
He’s not terrible for being a Republican, he’s terrible for being the kind of Republican he is.
missamerica1974
Good news, but he’s not the first openly gay social secretary. That was Jeremy Bernard back in 2011.
michel_banen
Looks like Biden will be the classy president that the USA [and the world] needs so badly right now !!! After Trump, could it get any worse ? Maybe Kanye West would have been even more bizarre. Or Bozo the Clown…. but then, the USA still has a delusional clown in the white house….
MrMichaelJ
Diverse except that whole slice of the liberal base that wants stuff like national healthcare, etc. I can’t stand how the Democrats would rather “reach across the aisle” then go for real, progressive change. it’s why we’re in the position we’re in right now seeing NOT ONCE has the GOP ever tried anything but ram in the most extreme conservative policies possible.