State Department hosts meeting on LGBTQ rights and foreign policy – ​​Georgia Voice – Gay & LGBT Atlanta News

Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed a group of LGBTQ activists and politicians from around the world to the State Department on Thursday.

The event – ​​described as a “meeting on U.S. foreign policy: national security, inclusive development, and the human rights of LGBTQI+ people” – took place ahead of the State Department’s annual Pride Month reception. Attendees included:

• Jessica Stern, the US Special Envoy for the Advancement of LGBTQ and Intersex Rights

• US Trade Representative Katherine Tai

• US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti

• Suzanne Goldberg, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights

• Secretary of State for Civil Security, Democracy and Human Rights Uzra Zeya

• Jay Gilliam, senior LGBTQI+ coordinator at the U.S. Agency for International Development

• USAID Advisor Clinton D. White

• Kelly Razzouk, Senior Director for Democracy and Human Rights at the National Security Council

• US Deputy Secretary of Health Adm. Rachel Levine

• Jess Huber, Human Rights Director of the National Security Council

• UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ilze Brandt Kehris

• Icelandic Ambassador to the USA Bergdís Ellertsdóttir

• Mark Bromley, Co-Executive Director of the Council for Global Equality

• Outright International Senior Advisor for Global Intersex Rights Kimberly Zieselman

• Essy Adhiambo, Executive Director of the Institute for Equality and Non-Discrimination in Kenya

• Pau González, co-chair of Hombres Trans Panamá and PFLAG-Panamá

“45 years ago, thousands gathered in DC for the first national march for LGBTQI+ and demanded that their voices be heard,” Thomas-Greenfield said in a post on her X-account showing her speaking at the event. “We must carry on the spirit of these pioneers and fight for equal rights and dignity for all.”

President Joe Biden signed a memo in 2021 committing the United States to promoting LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad as part of his administration’s overall foreign policy.

“LGBTQI+ rights are human rights,” Blinken said. “Our government has a responsibility to defend and promote them – here and everywhere.”

Blinken noted that consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized in 64 countries, and 11 of them carry the death penalty.

He pointed in particular to Uganda’s anti-homosexuality law and to how Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government “scapegoats, stigmatizes LGBTQI+ people – defames them with demeaning labels, denies them equal rights and normalizes violence against them.” (The gay US ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, marched in the annual Budapest Pride parade this month.)

Blinken noted that Iraqi lawmakers earlier this year “passed laws punishing same-sex relations with up to 15 years in prison.” He also noted that Indonesian lawmakers have passed a new penal code banning extramarital sex.

“In a country where same-sex couples are not allowed to marry, these laws make virtually all same-sex conduct illegal and undermine the privacy of all Indonesians,” Blinken said.

“We defend and promote LGBTQI+ rights around the world,” he said.

Blinken noted that seven countries – Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Namibia, Singapore and the Cook Islands – have decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations in the past two years. He also highlighted that Greece, Liechtenstein and Thailand have expanded marriage rights to same-sex couples this year and other countries are banning so-called “conversion therapy.”

“These successes are possible thanks to incredibly brave human rights activists and government partners on the ground, but I believe America’s support is essential,” Blinken said. “When we engage – sometimes publicly, sometimes privately, sometimes both – when we share our own knowledge and experiences, we can and do make change.”

Blinken also announced that sexual orientation and gender identity in the United States would now be considered part of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which came into force in 1976.

“This is one of the most important treaties that commits nations to uphold universal rights,” he said.

“In our regular reporting to the Human Rights Council, we will continue to consider cases of discrimination or abuse against LGBTQI+ persons, now within the clear framework of this well-supported interpretation,” Blinken added. “This will further strengthen our efforts.”

Blinken reiterated this point and the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to promoting LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad when he spoke at the State Department’s Pride Month event.

“Defendant and promote LGBTQI+ rights around the world is the right thing to do, but more than that, it is wise and necessary for our country, for our national security and for our well-being,” he said.

Story courtesy of the Washington Blade via the National LGBTQ Media Association. The National LGBTQ Media Association represents 13 traditional publications in major markets across the country with a combined readership of more than 400,000 in print and more than 1 million online. Learn more here: https://nationallgbtmediaassociation.com/