Obama Nominates Gay Man to Be Ambassador to Vietnam

President Barack Obama has reportedly nominated a gay man to serve as the new ambassador to the country of Vietnam. Thanh Nien News reports that if officially appointed, Ted Osius, who has been with US diplomatic offices in the Southeast Asia for many years,

Ted Osius will replace David Shear, who has held the position since 2011 and been recently nominated to be the next Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs in the Department of Defense.

Osius is now married to Clayton Bond, who is an officer with the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of African Affairs.

"I am grateful that these talented and dedicated individuals have agreed to take on these important roles and devote their talents to serving the American people. I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years," said President Obama in a statement posted on the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi website on Wednesday.

According to the statement, Osius served as a political officer at the US Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City and the US Embassy in Hanoi from 1997 to 2001, before being positioned in Thailand and Indonesia. He also served in the Philippines, India, and South Korea.

Now an Associate Professor at the Washington D.C.-based National War College, Osius was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies from 2012 to 2013.

He was a senior advisor on international affairs in vice president's office at the White House from 1998 to 2001. Osius received an A.B. from Harvard College and an M.S. from the School of Advanced International Studies at The Johns Hopkins University.