1.15PM: US President Barack Obama will nominate an openly gay lawyer as America's ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, report US news sources.
David Huebner, currently working in China as a partner in a law office, has also served as a mediator and arbitrator, and specialises in dispute resolution.
Huebner, who will be the first openly gay person to be nominated to an ambassadorship by the Obama administration, co-chaired the board of directors of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in 1997 and has served as legal counsel for the organization for a number of years.
The formal announcement of Huebner's nomination is expected today. If confirmed by the US Senate he will be only the third openly gay ambassador in US history and will take up his job in Wellington before the end of the year.
UPDATE 7.30PM: As expected, Obama has announced Huebner's nomination.
