higher on the US foreign policy agenda than ever before.
Elevating a 2011 initiative launched by his former boss Barack Obama —
and reversing a turnaround under 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 announced Thursday 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 United States would also combat
discriminatory laws overseas and work to build international coalitions
against homophobia and transphobia.
A senior State Department official said that 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 told AFP.
– Speaking out –
The Biden administration has already incorporated its message in public
statements. State Department spokesman Ned Price criticized Turkey after
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his interior minister verbally attacked
gay people, and Biden mentioned LGBTIQ rights in a message to an African
Union summit.
Considering the outsized US influence on the world, activists expected
Biden to set an example. They pointed to the rapid impact both at home and
abroad when Biden, then vice president, in 2012 became the highest-ranking US
official to back marriage equality — which became the law across the United
States three years later.
After the gradual evolution on LGBTIQ rights under Obama, “we have a
radically different opportunity today,” said Jessica Stern, executive
director of advocacy group OutRight Action International.
“To have President Biden issue this very holistic presidential memorandum
so early in his administration is a clear indication that this is a political
priority for him,” she said.
Stern voiced hope for greater funding for non-governmental groups, which a
number of European nations fund more generously.
But she cautioned that the solution was not always vocal US support at the
local level.
“One of the most effective and consistent ways of discrediting LGBTIQ
people and our movement is to say that they are the result of colonial and
Western imposition — they’re getting paid by foreign donors,” Stern said.
The State Department official said the United States would examine each
country and decide case by case whether public diplomacy is the best
approach.
“Our watch-word always is to work and listen to the activists on the ground
working on these issues to get their best advice on how to move the ball,”
the official said.
– Backing local voices –
The United States has plenty of case studies from the Obama years.
Obama slashed aid or trading privileges to Uganda and Gambia after the
countries passed laws that authorized imprisonment for homosexuality.
The tough rebukes fueled a backlash in parts of Africa, whose most
populous nation Nigeria defiantly pushed through its own draconian law.
But there has been steady progress, even in nations once seen as hotbeds
of homophobia such as Jamaica. Gay sex is now legal in nearly two-thirds of
all nations, and 28 countries allow same-sex marriage, according to the
International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.
Phillip Ayoub, an associate professor at Occidental College in California
who has studied diplomacy and sexual minorities, said the key was to support
local campaigners but to let them lead.
“There are activists on the ground who will say that it might not make
sense to be fully visible right now because that can increase violence toward
our communities,” he said.
“This kind of foreign policy cannot be top-down. It has to be done
carefully with civil society in different countries and I think empowering
them is one way where we can be productive.”
Trump reversed some LGBTIQ gains at home, particularly on transgender
people.
Under Trump’s secretary of state Mike Pompeo, an evangelical Christian,
the United States limited visas for foreign diplomats’ same-sex partners,
stopped US embassies from flying rainbow flags and entered a joint
declaration with countries including Uganda that promoted the “natural”
definition of family.
Trump appointed an openly gay ambassador to Germany, Ric Grenell, who
launched a campaign to end the criminalization of homosexuality, although
critics say the effort was aimed more at furthering other Trump goals such as
pressuring Iran and discouraging immigration.
After Trump, Ayoub said, Biden’s approach “is a monumental change.”