Gay Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) have reintroduced a bill to require the State Department to defend LGBTQ+ rights worldwide.
The International Human Rights Defense Act (IHRDA) directs the department to establish a Special Envoy to create “a United States global strategy to prevent and respond to criminalization, discrimination, and violence against LGBTQI+ people internationally.”
The bill explains that 64 countries criminalize same-sex relations, and 12 countries include jurisdictions that allow the death penalty for private, consensual same-sex relations.
“The fact that same-sex marriage was challenged here in the United States shows that equality is never something we can take for granted,” Garcia said in a statement, referring to a case against marriage equality that was recently rejected by the Supreme Court.
“LGBTQ+ people here at home and around the world continue to face escalating violence, discrimination, and rollbacks of their rights, and we must act now,” Garcia continues. “This bill will stand up for LGBTQ+ communities at home and abroad, and show the world that our nation can be a leader when it comes to protecting dignity and human rights once again.”
Markey added, “We must recommit the United States to the defense of human rights and the promotion of equality and justice around the world… I will continue to fight alongside LGBTQ+ individuals for a world that recognizes that LGBTQ+ rights are human rights.”
This is at least the fourth time the bill has been introduced. Markey introduced it with various co-sponsors in 2014, 2019, and 2023 (when he was also joined by Garcia).
The first was in 2019 by Markey and former Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA). The second time was in 2023 by Markey, Garcia, and Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA).
According to the Washington Blade, the global LGBTQ+ and intersex rights movement has lost more than $50 million since the current administration froze most of the country’s foreign aid funding.
What’s more, in August, the State Department released a heavily edited version of its annual report on human rights around the world that did not include any mention of LGBTQ+ rights violations and other abuses.
This year’s congressionally mandated report, which was initially prepared under the Biden administration, was delayed for months so that the State Department could remove references to categories of human rights violations not “explicitly required by statute.”
During a conference call with reporters at the time, former Biden administration special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ+ and intersex rights and co-founder of the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice Jessica Stern said that while she and her colleagues expected the report to be “bad,” they were “shocked and horrified” by what the administration released.
“It is deliberate erasure,” she said.
The current administration has not named a special envoy to fill Stern’s role.
Selected excerpt(s) and linked article courtesy of Molly Sprayregen, lgbtqnation(dot)com
Royalty-free photo courtesy of Google's Gemini
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