In a memorandum issued by
“Some have suggested that gay rights and human rights are separate and distinct,” Mrs. Clinton said at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, “but in fact they are one and the same.”
Neither Mr. Obama nor Mrs. Clinton specified how to give the initiative teeth. Caitlin Hayden, the
Still, raising the issue to such prominence on the administration’s foreign policy agenda is important, symbolically, much like President
With campaigning already under way in the 2012 presidential contest, Mr. Obama’s announcement could bolster support among gay voters and donors, who have questioned the depth of his commitment. He chose the Rev.
The initiative also invites attacks from Republicans trying to appeal to a conservative base in the primary and caucus states.
One Republican candidate, Gov.
It could also irritate some American allies, including countries like
Mrs. Clinton anticipated the sensitivity of the issue for some more conservative countries, saying that “the obstacles standing in the way of protecting the human rights” of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people “rest on deeply held personal, political, cultural and religious beliefs.”
She argued that gay rights transcended national, political and even culture boundaries, casting them as universal rights like those adopted by 48 nations in the aftermath of World War II in what was called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Mrs. Clinton’s aides so worried about the reaction of some countries at the Human Rights Council that they did not advertise the theme of her remarks before she delivered them. In the end, no representatives from the council’s 47 member nations walked out, and the audience gave her a standing ovation.
The administration’s announcement formalizes several steps that Mrs. Clinton has already ordered. She has asked American diplomats to raise the issue wherever harassment or abuse arises and required a record of them in the State Department’s annual report on human rights. On Tuesday, she also announced a $3 million program to finance gay-rights organizations to combat discrimination, violence and other abuses.
A senior administration official said that the money could be used, for example, to finance a lawyers’ group that is defending gays or to pay for the training of journalists who cover the persecution of gays. It could also provide relocation aid to refugees fleeing violence or persecution.
“I am deeply concerned by the violence and discrimination targeting L.G.B.T. persons around the world,” Mr. Obama said in the memorandum, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, “whether it is passing laws that criminalize L.G.B.T. status, beating citizens simply for joining peaceful L.G.B.T. pride celebrations, or killing men, women and children for their perceived sexual orientation.”
He said in the memorandum that the State Department would lead other federal agencies to help ensure that the government provided a “swift and meaningful response to serious incidents that threaten the human rights” of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people abroad.
The administration’s directive, months in the planning, came after a series of legal steps taken against gay men and lesbians in countries like
The State Department’s latest human rights report, released in April, catalogued cases in dozens of countries.
Homosexuality is accepted in most of
She also noted that, until 2003, sodomy was a crime in parts of the United States and that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people Americans “have endured violence and harassment in their lives.”
As was the case with the initial declaration on human rights, which did not immediately abolish racist laws or social and political barriers for women or religious minorities, she said, the notion of human rights has gradually expanded to include all people. She dismissed the assertion of some that homosexuality is “a Western phenomenon.”
“In reality, gay people are born into — and belong to — every society in the world,” she said.
In countries “where people are jailed, beaten or executed for being gay,” she called on leaders to leap ahead of their constituents cultural or social mores, if necessary. “I’m not saying that gay people can’t or don’t commit crimes,” she said. “They can and do, just like straight people. And when they do, they should be held accountable. But it should never be a crime to be gay.”Continue reading the main story