Non-Profit Soapbox

 Global Equality Today

Council welcomes 116th Congress. The Council for Global Equality and our 30 member organizations look forward to working with the new Congress to support LGBTI equality goals at home and abroad. Our legislative priorities will focus on the GLOBE Act, to restore U.S. global leadership in support of human rights of LGBTI and other minorities worldwide, and the Equality Act, to codify civil rights standards to protect LGBTI Americans in our own country. We also urge the new leaders and the new members of the 116th Congress in both parties to help fill the vacuum created by the absence of human rights leadership from senior Trump Administration officials by speaking out in support of human rights on the world stage. That leadership has been sorely absent in recent years.

CONGRESSIONAL ACTION

House Introduces GLOBE Act to Advance LGBTI Equality Abroad at End of 115th Congress
In recognition of Human Rights Week in December, Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) joined foreign affairs and LGBT equality leaders in Congress to introduce the Greater Leadership Overseas for the Benefit of Equality (GLOBE) Act (H.R. 7291) at the end of the 115th Congress. The Council is working with Rep. Titus and Sen. Markey to re-introduce the bill in the 116th Congress. Please contact those offices to sign on as an original co-sponsor in the new Congress!

As a comprehensive “vision bill,” GLOBE provides a broad roadmap for U.S. leadership to advance the human rights of LGBTI and other vulnerable minority communities around the world. Upon introduction, Rep. Titus noted: “The GLOBE Act builds on the accomplishments of the Obama Administration and the work of various members, groups, and coalitions to establish a broad set of directives to reinstate our leadership in advancing equality.” Read the Congressional press release here. And read the Council’s endorsement and a blog explaining the bill’s impact here.

New HFAC Chairman Calls on Secretary Pompeo to Condemn Attacks by Brazil’s President on the LGBT Community
Representative Eliot Engel, the incoming Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, led a joint letter to Secretary Pompeo to condemn recent statements and actions by Brazil’s new President, Jair Bolsonaro, that target LGBT and other minority communities in Brazil. The letter notes that “If the Trump Administration is indeed committed to this partnership, we strongly suggest that you not gloss over Mr. Bolsonaro’s behavior, but both privately and publicly raise objections to these recent actions.”

LGBTI Funding Hangs in Balance in Ongoing Budget Negotiations
The Senate Appropriations Committee allocated global LGBTI funding in its report accompanying the 2019 State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Bill (S.3108). The Council calls on members of the House and Senate to include that language in the omnibus appropriation bill that is being negotiated this month. The funding includes $3.5 million for LGBTI issues within USAID and $250,000 for the State Department’s Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons. (Although Secretary Pompeo pledged to re-fill that position during his April 2018 confirmation hearing, he has yet to do so as of this writing, nine months later.) The report also directs the State Department to allocate additional resources to the Global Equality Fund and to continue reporting on LGBTI issues in its annual Human Rights Reports.  

Congress Denounces Treatment of Vulnerable LGBTI Refugees in the “Caravan” at the Southern Border
On social media, Members of Congress have recognized the life-threatening circumstances of LGBTI refugees seeking asylum at the U.S. southern border, including the LGBT Equality Caucus, Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) and Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY). Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Tom Udall (D-NM) also sent a letter demanding answers after the tragic death in U.S. immigration detention of Roxana Hernandez, a transgender asylum seeker.

Senate Confirms Former Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons as Ambassador to Nepal
In September 2018, the Senate confirmed Randy Berry, formerly Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons, to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Nepal. Ambassador Berry, a career Foreign Service officer, was an effective Special Envoy and a strong civil society partner. The Council welcomes his confirmation to a country that has become a regional leader on LGBTI issues.

Former Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen Challenges Her Colleagues on LGBTI Rights
In a powerful speech describing her support for LGBTI equality in the U.S. Congress, retiring Congresswoman and former Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) concluded her service in December 2018 with a final plea to her House colleagues on behalf of LGBTI equality abroad: “I ask us all to commit, beginning today, to working across the aisle with a view to becoming more consistent, more fair, more respectful, and more principled on this issue. We as a country need to take action to set the right example.”

EXECUTIVE BRANCH ACTION

U.S. Joins 16 OSCE Countries to Launch an Investigation into LGBTI Atrocities in Chechnya
In 2018, the U.S. joined 16 like-minded member countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to launch an official investigation into LGBTI atrocities and other human rights abuses in Chechnya. This OSCE investigative mechanism has rarely been invoked and the action speaks both to the egregious nature of the abuses and the intransigence of Russian officials in responding to the allegations. Although OSCE experts were not allowed to visit Chechnya, the investigator’s report was released on December 20, 2018, finding, in the strongest possible terms, that “the evidence clearly shows that the allegations of vary serious human rights abuses . . . have been confirmed,” including “several waves of violations of human rights abuses of persons based on their sexual orientation and gender identity in 2017.” The State Department welcomed the report, emphasizing its conclusion that “Chechen authorities committed torture and other appalling human rights violations and abuses, including extrajudicial killings of LGBTI persons and others.” The Council will work with OSCE officials to seek an appropriate response from the Russian Federation.

Administration Officials Recognize Human Rights Day (December 10)
December 10 marked the 70-year anniversary of U.S. leadership in drafting and championing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. President Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation marking Human Rights Week here. Secretary Pompeo released a statement recognizing that: “The Declaration’s fundamental principles remain as relevant today as they were seventy years ago.” Speaker Pelosi marked the anniversary with a statement reminding us that: “As Americans we have a duty to maintain our critical leadership in the defense of human rights both at home and around the world.”

President to Nominate Heather Nauert to Be UN Ambassador
The President announced that he will nominate Heather Nauert, Acting State Department Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and State Department Spokesperson, to be our next UN Ambassador. The Council has not taken a position on the nomination but notes that, at the Residence of the Chilean Ambassador earlier this year, Nauert spoke forcefully in support of global LGBTI rights in her role as Acting Under Secretary, noting 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.”

State Department Supports Equal Rights Coalition at Vancouver Conference
The United States has been a leading proponent of the Equal Rights Coalition (ERC), a new intergovernmental coalition of 40 governments and leading civil society organizations that work together to protect the human rights of LGBTI people around the world. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan sent video remarks to open a major ERC conference in Vancouver, pledging that “the United States will remain a steadfast partner” of the ERC in “addressing the threats and unique human rights challenges of LGBTI persons.”  The U.S. government was represented in Vancouver by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scott Busby and by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Robert Moossy, reflecting the dual internal/external focus of the ERC.  At its best, the ERC is an institution that coordinates external diplomacy while simultaneously promoting internal best practices across member countries. The Council also welcomes the upcoming rotation of leadership of the ERC from Canada and Chile to Argentina and the United Kingdom in June 2019. Read more about the ERC on our blog here.

GLOBAL LGBTI DEVELOPMENTS

In recent good news…

• The Supreme Court of India issued a unanimous decision decriminalizing same-sex relationships across the country. The landmark case will buttress similar legal challenges to colonial-era sodomy laws in other former British colonies, including pending cases in Botswana, Jamaica and Kenya. Read our blog here, as well as the Equal Rights Coalition of 40 governments’ statement here.
• In the South American country of Guyana, the LGBT community secured a victory in the Caribbean Court of Justice, striking down the country’s anti-cross dressing law, which advocates claim will help decrease violence toward trans and gender non-conforming people in Guyana, and also potentially pave the way for decriminalization.
• The Chilean legislature passed a groundbreaking legal gender recognition law, which allows transgender individuals ages 14 and older to self-determine their legal gender in all official documents without a judicial determination or medical interventions. President Pinera signed the law into effect, despite right-wing opposition and following the remarkable public acknowledgement of trans lives as a result of the activism of the trans actress in the Oscar-winning Chilean film A Fantastic Woman. Similarly in Uruguay, a broad transgender rights law was passed that provides legal recognition and also requires that the state pay for all gender-confirming surgeries and provide job training programs for the community.
• In Romania, the LGBT community succeeded in defeating a referendum that sought to enshrine heterosexual marriage and heterosexual concepts of family in the constitution. Opponents led a successful boycott campaign that tapped into broader anti-corruption sentiments and negativity toward the leader of the country’s ruling party. Proponents of the referendum failed to muster the necessary participation threshold of 30% of the electorate during the 2-day referendum. LGBT Advocates are now engaging with the ruling party and other parties to demand that they honor their pledge to pass a civil union law in the coming year.

In bad news…

• In Taiwan, U.S.-funded right wing groups put several anti-LGBT referenda on the ballot, in an effort to thwart government efforts to provide equal marriage benefits to LGBT people. Unfortunately, they succeeded in passing a number of ballot measures that would create separate and unequal relationships, and also potentially eliminate comprehensive sexuality education in the schools. It is unclear how the legislature will respond, since Taiwan’s Constitutional Court has mandated equal marriage by May 2019.
•  Another crackdown against the LGBT community in Tanzania occurred after a regional commissioner in Dar-es-Salaam announced that he was creating a task force to hunt down LGBT people. In reaction to the witch-hunt, numerous governments, including the United States, and entities such as the World Bank, responded with both public and private diplomacy, which resulted in the country’s president distancing himself from Commissioner Makonda’s comments. This was considered a diplomatic success, although dangers for the LGBT community in Tanzania persist.

Watch this space…

• The Administration has re-nominated, for consideration by the new Congress, its candidates for Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) and Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights (J). Questions have been raised regarding the human rights commitment and records of both nominees for these positions (Robert Destro for DRL, Marshall Billingslea for J).
• In February, the Kenyan Constitutional Court will rule on that country’s colonial-era sodomy law.
• In Thailand, the current government has pledged to create a civil marriage mechanism for same-sex couples in the coming months.
• The OSCE will take up the report on Chechnya and recommend additional steps to respond to the documented impunity for atrocities committed against LGBT individuals, human rights defenders and others.