." >>> and james hormel made history by becoming the first openly gay person to serve as a u.s. #1 ] i was fascinated by balsa wood airplanes since i was a kid. [ man #2 ] i always wondered how did an airplane get in the air. at ge aviation, we build jet engines. we lift people up off the ground to 35 thousand feet. these engines are built by hand with very precise assembly techniques. [ man #3 ] it's gonna fly people around the world. safely and better than it's ever done before. it would be a real treat to hear this monster fire up. [ woman ] i think a lot of people, when they look at a jet engine, they see a big hunk of metal. but when i look at it, i see seth, mark, tom, and people like that who work on engines every day. [ man #4 ] i would love to see this thing fly. it's a dream, honestly. there it is. awesome. that's so cool! yeah, that was awesome! [ cheering ] i wanna see that again. ♪ and # 1 lipstain... is covergirl outlast! [ queen latifah ] america's #1 long-wear lipcolor i wanna see that again. what makes outlast so great? with outlast, we can go for hours and our

solutions that matter. >>> who is james hormel and why are so many people fighting over him?mily and friends, he's a 65-year-old philanthropist, businessman, heir to the hormel meat packing fortune. a former u.n. delegate, a big republican contributor, and a devoted family man. five kids, 13 grandchildren. if anything, too qualified to become u.s. ambassador to one of the world's least important diplomatic posts, luxembourg, but hormel has now waited a full year for senate action, longer than any other nominee. why? because he is openly gay. >> that was nbc's andrea mitchell reporting in 1998. it would take eight more months and relentless attacks from the right before my next guest would finally achieve his goal, and in so doing, he became the highest ranking openly gay official in the u.s. government. joining me now, former ambassador james hormel, co-author of "fit to serve: reflections on a secret life, private struggle, and public battle to become the first openly gay u.s. ambassador." ambassador, do you think that your situation would be any different today if your nomi

i want to bring in foam ambassador james hormel.life, private struggle and public balance to become the first openly gay u.s. ambassador. he is good enough to join me today. live from new york. mr. ambassador, nice to meet you. i know your good friend, senator diane feinstein, the bill's chief sponsor. even she says she doesn't have the votes for a full passage. for you, what does today's vote on the defense of marriage act, what does it mean for you? >> thanks for having me on. what it means to me is a great start, actually for a bill like this to get out of committee hearings is a major move. the so-called defense of marriage act which is patently unconstitutional is one of the worst pieces of legislation that we've ever had in the administration or in any other. so getting rid of it will be a blessing for our constitutional republic. >> i want to get back to defense of marriage act. i do just want to ask you about your story. in your book fit to serve, it was the late '90s. you had your eye on this diplomatic post and you could h