Partner Larry Soule, Timothy Wu, Husband Timothy Wu, Michael Peter Nguyen Araque
Queer Places:
Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave, Swarthmore, PA 19081
181 Buena Vista Ave E, San Francisco, CA 94117
James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center, 100 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94102
James C. Hormel & Michael P. Nguyen Lounge at Commonwealth Club of California, 110 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105
James Catherwood Hormel (January 1, 1933 – August 13, 2021) was an American philanthropist, LGBT activist, diplomat, and heir to the Hormel meatpacking fortune. He served as the United States Ambassador to Luxembourg from 1999 to 2001, and was the first openly gay man to represent the United States as an ambassador.[1] Hormel's brother, Geordie Hormel, was a musician and recording studio proprietor. Hormel married Alice Turner, now a retired psychologist,
in 1955 before coming out of the closet in 1965.[23] They had five children, fourteen grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Hormel had long relationships with Larry Soule,
an artist, from 1977 to after 1996, and Timothy Wu, a lawyer. His partner
since 2006, married in 2014, was Michael P.N. Araque: their marriage was officiated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Hormel was born in Austin, Minnesota. He is the grandson of George A. Hormel, founder of Hormel Foods. Hormel is the son of Germaine Dubois and Jay Catherwood Hormel, who served as president of Hormel Foods. Hormel earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Swarthmore College and a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School. After law school, Hormel served as the dean of students and director of admissions at the University of Chicago Law School.[2]
In 1994, President Bill Clinton considered Hormel for the ambassadorship to Fiji, but did not put the nomination forward due to objections from Fijian government officials.[3] At the time, gay male sexual acts were punishable with prison sentences in Fiji and Hormel's being open about his sexuality would stand in conflict with "Fijian culture". Instead, Hormel was named as part of the United Nations delegation from the United States to the Human Rights Commission in 1995, and in 1996 became an alternate for the United Nations General Assembly.[3]
In October 1997, Clinton nominated Hormel to be ambassador to Luxembourg, which had removed laws prohibiting consensual same-sex acts between adults in the 1800s.[3][4] This appointment was the first nomination or appointment of an openly LGBT person from the United States.[3] Hormel was sworn in as ambassador in June 1999. His partner at the time, Timothy Wu, held the Bible during the ceremony.[15][16][17][18] Also in attendance were Hormel's former wife, his five children, and several of his grandchildren. The treatment of his nomination was referenced by
Pete Buttigieg during his acceptance speech for his nomination as Secretary of Transportation on December 16, 2020.[19]
In 1981, he was one of the founders of the Human Rights Campaign.[20] He was a member of the boards of directors of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Hormel contributed $500,000[5] to fund the creation of the James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Public Library in 1996 (renamed the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center in 2016).[21]
Hormel participated in numerous events, including a conference organized in 2004 by Amnesty International in the frame of the Geneva Gay Pride. In 2010 he was given the Lifetime Achievement Grand Marshal Award by San Francisco Pride Board of Directors for his LGBT activism over several decades.[22]
James Hormel died in San Francisco on August 13, 2021, at the age of 88.[25]
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