Obama Administration Ramps Up Global LGBTI Activism in Lame Duck

By | July 21, 2016

Samantha Powers, US Ambassador to the United Nations

NEW YORK, July 22 (C-Fam) The Obama administration is telling countries to be loud and proud about LGBT issues, especially countries that want to avoid international tension on this subject.

“Governments do not have to choose between advancing LGBTI rights within their own countries and around the world. We can and must do both,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power told some 30 countries belonging to a newly formed “Equal Rights Coalition” gathered in Montevideo for a conference.

Power urged agitation at a four-day strategy session last week even though some countries and organizations in the coalition fear international tension over this subject. Some LGBTI groups even say it puts their constituents in danger. The conclave in Uruguay included UN agencies UNESCO, UNFPA, and the World Bank, along with a who’s who of international LGBT advocates.

Power extoled efforts of the Obama administration to “integrate LGBTI rights into the DNA of multilateral bodies like the UN,” even though the UN Charter prohibits the UN system from taking directives from individual states or groups of states. The unipolar nature of the UN system on social issues is increasingly a source of tension in international circles.

As when addressing the Human Rights Campaign earlier this year, Power boasted of the diligence of US diplomats in promoting LGBT issues and emphasized the importance of “firsts”—most recently the creation of a new UN post for an “independent expert” on LGBT rights.

With each small advance “we weave another thread of LGBTI rights into the fabric of universal human rights,” Power said.

But she insisted above all that countries “must be willing to use all the tools in our toolkit” to pressure countries into changing their laws and social attitudes, even when it causes international tension.

“We are not only standing up for LGBTI rights in public statements,” she explained, citing the example of President Obama’s recent trips to Africa, where he was outspoken and ignored protests against US pressure on LGBT rights internationally.

Power directly addressed criticism of the Obama administration from LGBT activists who say the US is jeopardizing those who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, or otherwise (LGBT), and LGBT advocates in particular.

“I recognize the obstacles that we governments must overcome – and the risks that we face – pale in comparison to those confronting many activists here. And that is precisely why governments at this conference, as well as those not at this conference, must do much more to support you.”

Power also acknowledged the difficulties facing the LGBT agenda internationally, including how every advance for the LGBT agenda is challenged at every turn.

“Being an advocate for LGBTI rights these days can feel almost schizophrenic. While more than 50 countries worldwide now prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, more than 70 countries criminalize consensual same-sex conduct.”

As other proponents of LGBT issues, Power mischaracterized laws that prohibit homosexual conduct as laws that prohibit homosexuality. In this vein, she concluded her remarks with assurances that the United States is not just concerned with protecting human rights but advancing social acceptance of homosexuality.

“Our work – the work of governments and of civil society – will not be finished until LGBTI people are welcome in every nation, every community, and every family.”

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