Huebner Sworn In As US Ambassador

David Huebner was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden Friday as the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, making him the third openly gay man to hold such a post in U.S. history.

"David, you've done it all, buddy," Biden said to Huebner, as he stood next to his partner of 20 years, Duane McWaine. "You've lived the American dream. I can think of nobody better to represent our nation to the people of New Zealand and Samoa than you."

Huebner, a graduate of Yale Law School, is a partner at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, heading the law firm's international disputes practice and its China practice. He is an experienced mediator and arbitrator and specializes in dispute resolution.

In LGBT circles, Huebner is known for his work with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, cochairing its board of directors in 1997 and serving as legal counsel for the organization for several of years.

At the ceremony, Huebner himself acknowledged that he could "imagine few other countries on earth" where someone like himself could reach such a position.

"My grandfather was an immigrant coal miner, my father was a meat cutter," said Huebner, who hails from Pennsylvania. "I was sworn in today standing next to my spouse, who happens to be of a different race and the same gender as I am. In America such a trajectory is not only possible, it's natural."

The mothers of Huebner and McWaine, Elizabeth Huebner, 75, and Dora McWaine, 77, sat next to each other in the front row beaming as they took in the spectacle.

Biden ticked off a list of Huebner's many accomplishments and said they were the main reason he was chosen for the position. But he noted that Huebner brings the strength of diversity to the job as well.

"I believe and Barack Obama -- President Obama -- believes that America projects its best face to the world when it reflects the true diversity of the country," Biden said. "You do all that for us and you enhance our image around the world because you do."

Huebner told a story about his school-age cousin whose classmates discounted the idea that her rather ordinary cousin could become an ambassador.

"She did what any 10-year-old would do -- she said, 'Go Google it,'" Huebner explained. "Then one of her classmates came back and in a whisper, asked if she knew that her cousin was gay." She responded, "Yeah, sure, so what?" according to Huebner.

"And that ended the debate, as it should!" he concluded.

Huebner took the oath as McWaine held the family Bible, a hefty 150-year-old relic -- brown with gold-gilded pages -- that had accompanied Huebner's grandmother on the boat she took when she emigrated from Germany to the United States.

Prior to the event, Elizabeth Huebner said her son's achievement made her "very proud."

"He just makes my heart sing. I'm proud as a peacock," she said.