State Department OK’s Pride Month At US Embassies: LGBTI Rights Is A Core Component Of US Foreign Policy

Paging Tony Perkins. Via the Washington Blade:

A State Department spokesperson on Friday said embassies and consulates have received guidance that allows them to recognize Pride month.

“Advancing the human rights of vulnerable groups including LGBTI persons is a core component of U.S. foreign policy,” the spokesperson told the Washington Blade. “All people should be protected from discrimination and violence, and must be allowed to exercise their human rights, including their rights to the freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and religion or belief.”

“LGBTI Pride celebrations are an expression of these rights,” added the spokesperson. ”As such, the department has issued guidance to embassies and consulates allowing them to, as appropriate to their local context, recognize LGBTI Pride Month.”

Last month Perkins issued a frothing press release calling on Rex Tillerson to “put a stop” to rainbow flags at US embassies.

PHOTO: From the Facebook page of openly gay former US Ambassador Wally Brewster: “So proud of the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic. It was a honor to work with each of them. Keep up the fight for equality, dignity and humanity for all people! Thank you Patrick Dunn, Art Smith, the Pride committee and all involved!”

Brewster resigned in January and his former post remains unfilled as are more than 50 other US ambassadorships. Patrick Dunn is the Dominican Republic’s US Chargé d’Affaires, which is the title for diplomats who act in the absence of an ambassador.

RELATED: You may recall that Brewster was under a years-long attack from the Dominican Republic’s Catholic Church. Last year Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Dominican cardinal who had repeatedly attacked Brewster and his husband with anti-gay slurs.