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White House Releases Presidential Memorandum on LGBT Issues in U.S. Foreign Policy
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 On December 6, 2011, the White House released the first-ever Presidential Memorandum on global LGBT issues, directing all U.S. "agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons." In that context, all U.S. foreign affairs agencies are now specifically charged with: - Strengthening efforts to combat the criminalization by foreign governments of LGBT status or conduct;
- Protecting vulnerable LGBT refugees and asylum seekers;
- Engaging U.S. foreign assistance mechanisms to build respect for LGBT persons abroad;
- Responding swiftly to human rights abuses of LGBT persons abroad;
- Supporting the fight against LGBT discrimination within international organizations; and
- Reporting annually on progress.
Read more about the Memorandum here.
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Secretary Clinton Delivers Historic Speech on LGBT Rights at UN in Geneva
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 Just hours after the release of President Obama's December 6 directive to foreign affairs agencies on advancing the human rights of LGBT people abroad, Secretary Clinton delivered a speech at the UN in Geneva on the universality of LGBT human rights that will certainly go down in history. Speaking with great humility and with the recognition that our own country still has a ways to go in protecting the rights of LGBT Americans, she firmly but sensitively explained why respect and fair treatment of LGBT people worldwide must be the next human rights challenge of our generation. She called for open dialogue, but also called on all countries to "be on the right side of history." The speech is available in English and translated into all six UN languages on the State Department website here.
The Council for Global Equality brought 14 human rights defenders who support LGBT individuals and organizations in hostile environments to Geneva to hear the speech and meet with U.S. government officials traveling with the Secretary. Their reactions to the speech are available here.
Before the speech, Secretary Clinton met with LGBT activists and supporters. Those remarks are available here. ____________________________________________________ Next week, on January 26 at 12 PM (EST), the Council will host a telephone briefing on the State Department's follow-up to the Presidential Memorandum and the Secretary's speech by Deputy Assistant Secretary Dan Baer.
Please rsvp to join us for this community call here.
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The Council Releases NGO Guide
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 | | Accessing U.S. Embassies |
The Council has released a preview copy of a new Guide on Accessing U.S. Embassies: A Guide for LGBT Human Rights Defenders. The Guide is a resource manual for LGBT activists and NGOs in other countries to help them understand how U.S. embassies work; how to call on U.S. diplomats to support their human rights goals; how to access U.S. support, including both technical and financial support; and how to frame requests in ways that will appeal to strategic U.S. priorities. The guide also emphasizes the limits of U.S. embassy support and the potential that exists for backlash in some hostile environments. By presenting the opportunities and difficulties of U.S. embassy engagement, and by highlighting those with concrete examples, the Council aims to provide both the information and the context that will allow individual human rights defenders to decide for themselves when and how to approach U.S. embassies as potential partners in their work. The Council will collect feedback on this working draft before publishing a final version and translating it into French and Spanish later this spring.
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U.S. Reports to UN on Human Rights for LGBT Americans
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 On December 30, the United States submitted its fourth report to the UN Committee on Human Rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), one of the human rights treaties that the United States has ratified. In a major departure from a prior Bush Administration report, sexual orientation and gender identity issues featured prominently in this current submission, with an honest and reflective perspective on the state of LGBT rights in the United States. Read more here.
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UN Releases Groundbreaking Report on Rights of LGBT Individuals
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 Also in December, the UN released a groundbreaking report on "Discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity," by the UN's top human rights commissioner. Recognizing that "governments and inter-governmental bodies have often overlooked violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity," the report was requested by the UN's Human Rights Council in a first-ever resolution last June condemning acts of violence and discrimination against LGBT individuals.
The resolution was introduced by South Africa, with strong support from the United States and a cross-regional coalition of countries. Read more here.
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