diff --git a/src/wp-includes/post-functions.php b/src/wp-includes/post-functions.php
index 10e6be4e21..4d012f6de0 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/post-functions.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/post-functions.php
@@ -3012,7 +3012,11 @@ function wp_insert_post( $postarr, $wp_error = false ) {
 	 * is not 'draft' or 'pending', set date to now.
 	 */
 	if ( empty( $postarr['post_date'] ) || '0000-00-00 00:00:00' == $postarr['post_date'] ) {
-		$post_date = current_time( 'mysql' );
+		if ( empty( $postarr['post_date_gmt'] ) || '0000-00-00 00:00:00' == $postarr['post_date_gmt'] ) {
+			$post_date = current_time( 'mysql' );
+		} else {
+			$post_date = get_date_from_gmt( $postarr['post_date_gmt'] );
+		}
 	} else {
 		$post_date = $postarr['post_date'];
 	}
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/post.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/post.php
index b3d7b0a73a..403258e796 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/post.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/post.php
@@ -1218,4 +1218,28 @@ class Tests_Post extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 
 		$this->assertEquals( $this->author_id, get_post( $post_id )->post_author );
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @ticket 15946
+	 */
+	function test_wp_insert_post_should_respect_post_date_gmt() {
+		$post = array(
+			'post_author' => $this->author_id,
+			'post_status' => 'publish',
+			'post_content' => rand_str(),
+			'post_title' => rand_str(),
+			'post_date_gmt' => '2014-01-01 12:00:00',
+		);
+
+		// insert a post and make sure the ID is ok
+		$id = wp_insert_post($post);
+
+		$out = get_post($id);
+
+		$this->assertEquals($post['post_content'], $out->post_content);
+		$this->assertEquals($post['post_title'], $out->post_title);
+		$this->assertEquals($post['post_author'], $out->post_author);
+		$this->assertEquals(get_date_from_gmt($post['post_date_gmt']), $out->post_date);
+		$this->assertEquals($post['post_date_gmt'], $out->post_date_gmt);
+	}
 }