Global Equality Today
Happy IDAHOTB (International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia)!
May 17 is commemorated around the world as the day the World Health Organization declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder. It also reminds us of the violence and discrimination faced by LGBTI people globally. Read our IDAHOTB blog here.
Join Our Congressional Pride Forum: Reclaiming Global Leadership on LGBTI Rights
Join us on June 19 as we explore America’s eroded leadership on global LGBTI inclusion. The discussion at the Capitol Visitor Center will examine the Obama Administration’s ground-breaking inclusion of LGBTI populations in America’s human rights policies and consider the extent to which those policies are still effective today. Advocates, including two former U.S. ambassadors and two frontline human rights defenders, will challenge us to reexamine our diplomatic commitments to global equality in the Trump Administration. Reserve your space today: RSVP here.
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
Senate Confirms Secretary of State Mike Pompeo . . . Will He Stand for LGBTI Equality Abroad?
Newly confirmed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo committed, in answers to Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to “…ensure that human rights, democracy, and the equal treatment of all persons will remain fundamental to U.S. foreign policy.” He pledged, moreover, that he is “committed to defending the human rights and dignity of all persons, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity,” noting that “the most vulnerable communities and persons will be a priority.” He also agreed to appoint a new Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons at the State Department. The Council will hold him to these commitments.
Omnibus Appropriation Bill Includes New Funding for Global Programs Supporting LGBTI Rights
The Senate Appropriations Committee allocated global LGBTI funding in its report accompanying the 2018 State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Bill. That language was rolled into the omnibus appropriation bill that Congress passed, and the President signed, in March. The funding includes $3 million for LGBTI issues within the USAID Human Rights Division and $250,000 for the State Department’s Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons – a vacant position that Secretary Pompeo has pledged to fill. The report also directs the State Department to continue reporting on LGBTI issues and to consider those reports in its assistance decisions.
EXECUTIVE BRANCH ACTION
Human Rights Reports Document Rising Violence and Discrimination Against LGBTI Persons
While the latest round of State Department Human Rights Reports, released in April, fail to report adequately on reproductive rights, they nonetheless reveal an all-too-familiar tableau of societal and government hostility and violence against LGBTI people around the globe. Read our analysis here. The Council calls on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to set aside his past prejudices against LGBT Americans to respond to this deteriorating human rights landscape.
State Department Welcomes Equal Rights Coalition (ERC) to Washington
Speaking at the Residence of the Chilean Ambassador, Heather Nauert, Acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and State Department Spokesperson, welcomed government and civil society organizations to Washington for a meeting of the Equal Rights Coalition, a new intergovernmental coalition of more than 30 governments and leading civil society organizations that work together to protect the human rights of LGBTI people around the world. Nauert noted that: “protecting and promoting human rights abroad is a core element of our foreign policy. Societies are more secure when they respect individual human rights, democratic institutions, and the rule of law.” She also called on U.S. embassies to open their doors and work with civil society to celebrate IDAHOTB and Pride Month around the world.
United States Joins ERC Statement Condemning Forced Anal Testing of LGBTI Individuals
The United States joined 30 other countries in issuing a statement by the Equal Rights Coalition calling on countries to end the practice of forced anal exams targeting gay and bisexual men and transgender women to “prove” same-sex activity. ERC members noted with deep concern that individuals are still forced to undergo such exams.
Pence Swears in Gay Ambassador to Germany
Openly gay Richard Grenell was confirmed by the Senate as Ambassador to Germany last month. Grenell, a sharp-tonged defender of President Trump, was the first openly gay person to be nominated by Trump for an ambassadorship. He was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence, who acknowledged Grenell's partner, Matt Lashey, but made no reference either to Grenell's status as the senior-most openly LGBT appointee or to the Administration's LGBT policies; Grenell similarly spoke of neither.
White House Nominates Former Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons to Be Ambassador to Nepal
The Council advocated for the creation of a Special Envoy position at the State Department to serve as a focal point for LGBTI issues, and the first person to serve in that position, Randy Berry, has been nominated by President Trump to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Nepal. Berry, a career Foreign Service officer, was an effective Special Envoy and a strong civil society partner, and the Council welcomes his nomination to serve in a country that has become a regional leader on LGBTI issues.
GLOBAL LGBTI DEVELOPMENTS
In recent good news…
· Trinidad and Tobago’s High Court of Justiceissued a landmark ruling declaring that laws which criminalize same-sex relationships between consenting adults are unconstitutional. Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi has already announced the government will appeal the decision. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)applauded the decision.
· At the annualSummit of Commonwealth Nations, UK Prime Minister Theresa May followed the urging of activists and issued an apology, saying she “deeply regrets” that the UK introduced discriminatory lawscriminalizing same-sex relationships during the colonial era.
· In an important decision, the Kenyan Court of Appeals ruled that forced anal exams are unconstitutional. While in an interview with CNN, President Kenyatta dismissed the rights of gay people as "not an issue."
· China’s leading social media network, Sina Weibo, was forced to reverse its ban on gay content after an outpouring of upset by users. Users immediately objected and the hashtag campaign “I am Gay” received over 240 million views and 170,000 posts before Weibo took it down. Even the state-run paper People’s Daily ran an editorial seeming to criticize the censorship, stating: “Intellectually speaking, there should be a consensus around respecting other people’s sexual orientation.”
· Thailand is drafting a bill to allow"registered life partnerships"for same-sex couples.
In bad news…
· Beirut Pride was suspended in Lebanon.
· In Uganda, some Members of Parliament say they willreintroduce the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2014that condemns those accused of being gay to life in prison.
· In the Indonesian province of Aceh, officials announced that criminals will no longer be whipped in public (only in private), after the caning of two accused gay men was live-streamed on the internet and received international criticism. Indonesia’s Parliamenthas put on hold a vote to amend the criminal code to criminalize same-sex relations and non-marital sex.
· In Taiwananti-LGBT activistshave successfully petitioned the Central Election Commission (CEC) to consider three public referenda that could damage the marriage equality Constitutional Court ruling from last year. The proposed questions ask if Taiwan same-sex couples should have a lesser status of civil union, if marriage should be defined as between a man and a women and if the national education curriculum should exclude “gay and lesbian education,” despite curriculum requirements created by theGender Equality Education Act of 2004.
CIVIL SOCIETY LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
We urge your ongoing support for these bills in the U.S. Congress that promote U.S. leadership on human rights:
-- Global Respect Act (S.1172, HR.2491)
-- Dream Act (S.1615, HR. 3440)
-- Global HER Act (S.210, HR.671)
-- Trans Service Act (S.1820, HR. 4041)
-- LOVE Act (S.1420)
