Secretary Clinton made a powerful case on December 6, 2011 at the UN in Geneva for why the respect and fair treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people worldwide is of concern to the United States and the world. On the same day President Obama also released a Presidential Memorandum committing the entire U.S. government to support this important human rights agenda. You can watch the speech and see transcripts in English, 中文, Français, Español, or فارسی http://www.humanrights.gov/2011/12/06/human-rights-geneva/
The following list is a short compendium of the press that the speech and memorandum generated.
U.S. to Aid Gay Rights Abroad, Obama and Clinton Say
GENEVA — The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that the United States would use all the tools of American diplomacy, including the potent enticement of foreign aid, to promote gay rights around the world.In a memorandum issued by President Obama in Washington and in a speech by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton here, the administration vowed to actively combat efforts by other nations that criminalize homosexual conduct, abuse gay men, lesbians, bisexuals or transgendered people, or ignore abuse against them. Read more.
Watch Hillary Clinton's Speech Declaring 'Gay Rights Are Human Rights'
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took a bold step for U.S. foreign policy (and common decency) by declaring in front of the United Nations yesterday that it is a "violation of human rights" to commit violence or discrimination against people because of their sexual orientation. In a moving speech to the U.N.'s human rights group in Geneva, Clinton tackled many of the common stereotypes leveled at gay people and called on other nations to eliminate laws that criminalize or marginalize homosexuals.
Clinton's Landmark LGBT Speech Shows Importance of Electing Pro-Equality Candidates
Today is truly a momentous day in human rights history. This morning President Barack Obama issued the first-ever executive memorandum dealing with the subject of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights worldwide and directing federal agencies working overseas to "promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons." Later, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a landmark address on LGBT rights in recognition of International Human Rights Day at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Read more.
Hilary Clinton's landmark Human Rights Day speech
As I listened to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's landmark Human Rights Day speech last week before a United Nations audience in Geneva, I was overwhelmed with emotion. I was not alone in wiping tears away during the speech. Many others from our delegation of U.S. and global activists - State Department officials too - were equally touched by the secretary's words. When it was over, I had never been prouder as an American, as an activist and as a lesbian. Read more.
Hillary Clinton calls on world not to discriminate against gays
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on world leaders for the first time Tuesday to stop discrimination against gays and lesbians, announcing that the United States would use diplomacy and $3 million in aid to help expand the rights of gay people around the world. Read more.
Hillary Clinton declares 'gay rights are human rights'
The US has publicly declared it will fight discrimination against gays and lesbians abroad by using foreign aid and diplomacy to encourage reform. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience of diplomats in Geneva: "Gay rights are human rights". A memo from the Obama administration directs US government agencies to consider gay rights when making aid and asylum decisions. Read more.
Clinton’s Geneva accord: ‘Gay rights are human rights’
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton marked International Human Rights Day with a phenomenal speech in Geneva yesterday. Over the course of 30 minutes, Clinton delivered a blunt yet inspiring speech that took on all the myths and canards about homosexuality and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people. Her address earned her a standing ovation in the Palais des Nations and will endear her and the Obama administration to gay people around the world. Read more.
Clinton makes history with speech to the U.N.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in an historic speech on Tuesday, Dec. 6 at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. in Geneva, called on the governments of all nations to ensure that their LGBT citizens are treated with respect and dignity.
Her speech came shortly after the White House Press Office released a statement announcing that President Barack Obama had issued a memorandum directing the State Department to lead an interagency group to provide a “swift and meaningful response” by the U.S. government to “serious incidents that threaten the human rights of LGBT persons abroad.” Read more.
America in Front: Clinton's Human Rights Day Speech
Since Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Human Rights Day speech in Geneva last month, some have publicly wondered—and I imagine a great many more have privately done so—about why an American secretary of state would give a speech about protecting the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people abroad. Some wonder, in a time of economic hardship at home and grave global challenges, if it makes sense for the secretary to concentrate on the hardships experienced by a particular minority group. Others wonder whether it is appropriate for Clinton to talk about things like freedom, dignity and equality for LGBT people abroad when many conversations continue here in the United States about how to best requite those promises at home. Read more.
LGBT Activists From Around the World React to Clinton’s Speech
It was as historic a moment the LGBT movement has had this year, when Secretary of State Hilary Clinton offered up a pitch-perfect speech about human rights and President Obama issued a presidential memorandum addressing the human rights of LGBT people worldwide. The Council for Global Equality brought 14 prominent LGBT activists from around the world to Geneva to be present for Secretary Clinton’s Human Rights Day speech. We got reactions from those LGBT human rights defenders: Read more.
Obama and United Nations join push for gay rights in Africa
President Barack Obama and the United Nations’ top human rights official have added their voices to the British prime minister’s call for respect for gay rights in Africa and throughout the world.
The UN’s first-ever report in support of gay rights, coupled with the African-American leader’s condemnation of homophobia globally, will intensify pressure on countries such as Uganda to adopt more tolerant policies toward homosexuals. Read more.
Africa: Obama and UN Join Push for Gay Rights on Continent
President Barack Obama and the United Nations' top human rights official have added their voices to the British prime minister's call for respect for gay rights in Africa and throughout the world.
The UN's first-ever report in support of gay rights, coupled with the African-American leader's condemnation of homophobia globally, will intensify pressure on countries such as Uganda to adopt more tolerant policies toward homosexuals. Read more.
Malawi to review homosexuality ban after US aid threat
Move comes after Barack Obama told US agencies to consider local gay rights when making foreign aid allocation decisions Malawi is to review laws banning homosexuality in response to public opinion, according to reports. The move comes just days after the US announced it would use foreign aid to pressure countries to decriminalise homosexual acts. Read more.
Hillary Clinton declares 'gay rights are human rights'
The US has publicly declared it will fight discrimination against gays and lesbians abroad by using foreign aid and diplomacy to encourage reform. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience of diplomats in Geneva that "gay rights are human rights". Read more.
U.S. Carries King’s Spirit With Global Push for Gay Rights
Even Martin Luther King Jr., the man the U.S. honors today, had his blind spots. The circle of human rights he gave his life to expand didn’t include everyone. Left out, for instance, were gay men and lesbians.
One of King’s most laudable attributes, however, was his ability to evolve and grow, and so we imagine that were he alive today he would endorse the efforts of the Obama administration to help bring basic freedoms and protections to gay people the world over. Read more.
Obama Administration moves the Ball Forward on International Human Rights
I believe I am in public service today because of the following 235-year-old sentence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
With those words and the sentence that immediately follows them -- ”[T]o secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” -- a small band of revolutionaries inverted the world order, cemented human rights at the heart of the American experiment, and created a promising future for legions of folks, including me, who were not born into traditional elites or favored demographics. Read more.
Council for Global Equality Member Coverage
Sec. Clinton: LGBT Rights Are Human Rights
The Obama administration is taking landmark new steps to tackle international abuse of LGBT people.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today said LGBT rights are universal human rights, and compared LGBT equality to women’s rights and racial equality. Clinton delivered the historic remarks in Geneva to an international audience – including some representing nations with poor track records on LGBT rights – less than an hourafter the White House released a landmark roadmap calling on all government agencies engaging in foreign affairs to promote LGBT human rights globally. Read more.
White House issues presidential memorandum on U.S. government strategy addressing the human rights of LGBT people abroad
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 — The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force joins with its international partner, the Council for Global Equality, in applauding President Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for their outspoken commitment to ending abuses and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people worldwide. The White House today issued a presidential memorandum directing all federal agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT people.
Secretary Clinton’s International Human Rights Day Message: “Gay Rights are Human Rights”
Foreign policy speeches do not typically give me chills. Not so with the speech that Secretary Clinton gave yesterday evening in Geneva on the evening of December 6th. Her remarks, which I was fortunate enough to hear in person, made a powerful, timely and truly historic argument for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Read more.
NCTE Applauds Obama Administrations Historic Call for LGBT Human Rights Worldwide
In response to Secretary Clinton’s speech at the United Nations calling for global support of basic LGBT human rights, and President Obama’s Memorandum to federal agencies abroad, NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling issued the following statement: Read more.
LGBT Rights are Human Rights, Clinton Says
Geneva – Human Rights First today commended Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she seized another opportunity to establish the principle that LGBT rights are human rights and human rights are LGBT rights. In a speech before the United Nations in Geneva, Clinton noted that the respect and fair treatment of LGBT people worldwide is a moral imperative, in keeping with universal values and with America’s belief that all men and women are created equal. Read more.
What They Really Said: Obama and Clinton on LGBT Rights and Foreign Assistance
Earlier today, the Obama Administration released a memorandum to federal agencies on initiatives to advance the human rights of LGBT people. An hour later, Secretary Clinton delivered a speech before the U.N. in Geneva that reaffirmed the policy articulated by president that LGBT rights are human rights. Despite the headlines coming out of those two announcements, neither said anything about conditioning foreign aid on the protection of LGBT rights. Read more.
ADL Applauds U.S. Action To Protect LGBT Rights Abroad
New York, NY, December 6, 2011 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today applauded a landmark speech by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the United Nations in Geneva and a directive from President Barack Obama focused on protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) human rights abroad. The President called on US agencies to fight the criminalization of LGBT status, to respond to incidents of abuse, and to direct US assistance to help promote respect for LGBT rights.
NGLCC Co-Founders Attend Historic United Nations Speech by Secretary of State Clinton
Washington, D.C. (12/06/11) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a bold and powerful statement at the United Nations in Geneva that the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are as central to the U.N.’s founding principles of equality as race, gender, and religious affiliation. National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce’s (NGLCC) co-founders Justin Nelson and Chance Mitchell were among a select group of LGBT Americans invited to witness the groundbreaking speech and to meet with Secretary Clinton and U.N. human rights officials. Read more.
The Arcus Foundation Announces Support of Global LGBT Initiatives Announced by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
NEW YORK, NY (December 6, 2011) -- The Arcus Foundation, a leading global foundation advancing pressing social justice and conservation issues, announced its support of global LGBT equality initiatives introduced today by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At a briefing held at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Clinton said that the Department of State will pursue a global human rights agenda inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities (SOGI). Clinton also announced that the Department will establish and administer a Global Equality Fund to protect and advance the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people globally. Read more.
Clinton to United Nations: “Gay Rights Are Human Rights”
The fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) human rights took not one but two critical steps forward this week with President Obama’s release of a Presidential Directive on LGBT rights followed closely by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s international human rights day speech at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Read more.
NCLR Applauds Secretary Clinton’s Groundbreaking Speech on the Human Rights of LGBT People
(San Francisco, CA, December 6, 2011)—The National Center for Lesbian Rights applauds Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for her groundbreaking speech today on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Speaking to human rights leaders from around the world, Secretary Clinton made a powerful case for the full inclusion of LGBT people in human rights protections, and pledged that securing those rights is a priority of the Obama administration’s foreign policy. In her remarks, Secretary Clinton said: “To LGBT men and women worldwide, wherever you live and whatever the circumstances of your life, whether you are connected to networks of support or feel isolated and vulnerable, please know that you are not alone. . . . You have an ally in the United States of America.” Read more.
NEGATIVE REACTIONS TO CLINTON SPEECH
Clinton Says Obama Wants Gay Rights Over Religious Freedom in Key Speech
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday put the Obama administration clearly on the opposite side of Christians seeking religious freedom in the debate over human sexuality,http://www.christianpost.com/topics// prompting praise from gay rights activists and criticism from GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry. Read more.
Hillary Clinton’s ‘Gay’ UN Speech Promotes Homosexuality in the Name of Human Rights
On Dec. 6, 2011 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a speech in honor of International Human Rights Day which is celebrated on Dec. 10, the date in 1948 when the United Nations formally adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But as we should have expected from a representative of the fervently pro-perversion Obama Administration, Clinton used the occasion to promulgate unproven, liberal assumptions about homosexuality and Gender Identity Disorder (GID).With the usual cunning of the Left, Clinton begins her speech by referring to the “beating, terrorizing, and executing” of homosexuals, but then with some skillful bait-and-switch rhetoric, she starts talking about undefined “discrimination.” Such a speech would be justified if Clinton were actually concerned only with real human rights abuses such as draconian laws that call for the execution of homosexuals or for acts of violence ignored by police. But anyone familiar with the incoherent world of “progressivism,” understands that moral disapproval of homosexual acts becomes “discrimination” which ineluctably results in “bullying” or “terrorizing.” Read more.
Hillary Clinton: Religious objections to homosexuality like supporting honor killings, widow burning
WASHINGTON, D.C. December 8, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a speech designed to convince the world that “gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said religious objections to homosexuality should not stand in the way of vigorous United Nations action to promote the homosexual rights agenda. Read more.Hillary Clinton’s State Department and Imposing LGBT Rights
The George W. Bush administration was accused of being a bully, imposing its will upon the world, while the Obama administration sees the U.S. as part of the world community. That attitude is defined as presidential doctrine, key goals, attitudes, or stances for United States foreign affairs outlined by Presidents.Well, guess who now, through Hillary Clinton’s State Department, is being a bully. On Tuesday, December 6, 2011, in Geneva, Switzerland, Hillary Clinton gave a speech about “Human Rights,” specifically about lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and trans-gender (LGBT) rights. Whether or not you agree with Hillary Clinton is NOT at issue here. What is at issue is that, through the State Department, the Obama administration is now doing exactly what it accused the Bush administration of doing. Clinton announced in Geneva that the imposition of the gay agenda on foreign governments now forms “a priority of our foreign policy.” President Obama issued a memorandum ordering the U.S. government to use all means necessary, including diplomacy and foreign aid, to promote gay rights worldwide. How ironic. Read more.
