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    The LGBTQIA Center’s Namesake, James C. Hormel

    James C. Hormel has devoted his life to the advocacy of basic human rights, social justice and the well being of all individuals.

    Hormel is an alumnus of Swarthmore College, where he has established a faculty chair in social justice. He received his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where he subsequently was Assistant Dean and Dean of Students. He is a life member of the Visiting Committee of the Law School. In 1986, he established the James C. Hormel Public Service program at the Law School.

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    Hormel served as United States Ambassador to Luxembourg from June 1999 to December 2000. He was alternate representative of the U.S. delegation to the 51st United Nations General Assembly in 1996. He also was a member of the U.S. delegation to the 51st U.N. Human Rights Commission.

    For more than 30 years, Hormel has been instrumental in developing resources for organizations serving people affected by HIV and AIDS, substance abuse, and breast cancer. He was a founder of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest national LGBT advocacy organization, and served as a member of the board of directors of The American Foundation for AIDS Research.

    He currently serves on the boards of People For the American Way, The Commonwealth Club of California, Grace Cathedral, and Swarthmore College, and is a life member of the Board of Governors of the San Francisco Symphony and a Trustee Emeritus of The San Francisco Foundation.

    In 1992, he was a member of the Democratic Platform Committee. He was a delegate in the 1992 Democratic National Convention in New York, and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1996.

    Hormel has five children, fourteen grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. He resides in San Francisco with his spouse, Michael P. Nguyen.

    Hormel’s memoir, Fit to Serve: Reflections on a Secret Life, Private Struggle, and Public Battle to Become the First Openly Gay U.S. Ambassador, reveals the power that comes from being true to one’s self, and the opportunity every person has to change the world. For more information: http://jameschormel.com/