US President Joe Biden has quickly launched a campaign to support LGBTIQ people abroad, putting their rights higher on the US foreign policy agenda than ever before.
Elevating a 2011 initiative launched by then-US president Barack Obama — and reversing a turnaround under former US president Donald Trump — Biden is expanding the scope of US efforts on LGBTIQ rights, while also adjusting based on lessons learned over the past decade.
In his first foreign policy speech, Biden on Thursday announced he was ordering all US government agencies active abroad to promote the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people and to come up with plans within 180 days.
“All human beings should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear no matter who they are or whom they love,” Biden said in the presidential memorandum.
Biden, who plans a dramatic rise in US admissions of refugees, promised greater attention to LGBTIQ asylum seekers, including by ensuring action on urgent cases even when vulnerable people first flee to countries that are less welcoming.
The memorandum said that the US would also combat discriminatory laws overseas and work to build international coalitions against homophobia and transphobia.
A senior US Department of State official said that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to name a special envoy on LGBTIQ issues.
“I think that when that envoy is appointed, that will help to elevate attention to these issues even further,” the official said.
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