Gay US Ambassador Arrives His Host Country With "Husband"

Amb Brewster Left with his "husband"

The new U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic arrived in the country with his husband this week after a torrent of abuse from local religious groups about being openly gay.

James 'Wally' Brewster arrived in Santo Domingo despite calls for protest from groups in the Dominican Republic, explaining his future proposals in a promotional video.

In the video, posted on the U.S. Embassy website, Mr Brewster said: ‘My spouse, Bob, and I have travelled the world, from the far reaches of Asia to the stunning coastlines of southern Europe.’

The Dominican Evangelical Fraternity in the country called for a ‘black Monday’ protest, urging locals to tie black ribbons to their cars to show their opposition to Mr Brewster, according to local media.

Rev. Cristobal Cardozo, leader of the church, said Mr Brewster's presence in Santo Domingo would be 'an insult to good Dominican customs'.

Mr Brewster being sworn in to his new diplomatic position by Vice President Joe Biden

‘The United States is trying to impose on us marriage between gays and lesbians as well as adoption by these couples.’

But national newspaper El Nacional this week urged people to focus on the ambassador’s plans outlined in the video rather than focus on his sexual orientation which had ‘generated more attention than his diplomatic mission,’ the paper reported.

Mr Brewster is the seventh U.S. ambassador in history to be openly gay. The first was philanthropist James Hormel, appointed Ambassador to Luxembourg by President Bill Clinton in 1999.

In the Senate last month, Mr Brewster said: ‘I have already begun to see the challenges and controversies I will face in this job but the rewards of representing the American people, creating a more prosperous hemisphere, and strengthening democracy through our evolving relationship with the Dominican Republic will be far greater than any challenge or controversy I will ever encounter.’

In his promotional video, the new ambassador said: ‘We are both thrilled to be coming back to our second home in the Dominican Republic where I’m honored to serve as U.S. ambassador.’

Earlier this year during a press conference in which Roman Catholic Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez was being asked about Mr Brewster before shifting to a question on agriculture, he said: 'We went from faggots and lesbians to chickens now?'

He also called the appointment of the nation’s top emissary from Washington D.C. a ‘blunder’.

Cardinal Rodriguez, the country's archbishop, said: 'It's the government's job to accept them. They are interested in advancing their agenda, but they have to know there are many people in the world who are against that, both in Christian and non-Christian governments.'

'Ask the Muslim world what they think about that, in addition to Christians and Evangelicals.'

Some journalists in the Dominican Republic predicted broad resentment toward the U.S. over Mr Brewster's nomination.

Writing in the newspaper Acento, columnist Jose Alberto Ortiz said: 'Obama knows that a large majority of the Dominican population rejects [the idea] that two people of the same sex can unite in matrimony and form a family.'

The first: James Hormel was the first openly gay U.S. ambassador posted in Luxembourg during the Clinton presidency

'As it is not possible to convince the population of his ideology, he has opted to impose it - a typical act of an imperialist government.'

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke of Mr Brewster’s ‘knowledge and dedication’ when he announced the appointment back in June.

A 2010 U.S. State Department survey found that the Dominican Republic is 68.9 per cent Roman Catholic and 18.2 per cent Evangelical Christian. Just 10.6 per cent say they practice no religion.

President Obama has nominated five gay men to top diplomatic posts in the past month alone.

They include Brewster, former Obama for America finance chief Rufus Gifford (Denmark), Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Baer (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), former Office of Personnel Management director John Berry (Australia) and former HBO executive James Costos (Spain).

Costos and his partner, decorator Michael Smith, bundled more than $1.1 million in donations for President Obama's re-election. Brewster, too, was in that exclusive $1 million-and-over club.

Other than the Dominican Republic, Spain is the only other majority-Catholic country among those expected to welcome gay U.S. ambassadors this year. 

But gay marriage has been legal in Spain since 2005, following moves by that country's socialist government to liberalize social policies.

President Obama famously declared his support in 2012 for the right of gay couples to marry in the United States, citing issues of fairness and equal protection under the U.S. Constitution.