Tag Archives: State Department

You won’t regret making the time to watch every minute of this historic speech in support of LGBT rights. Our enemies will surely make this the centerpiece of every bit of vitriol they spew for the next eleven months.

President Obama today issued an unprecedented directive that federal agencies should work to promote and protect LGBT rights in foreign countries. The Human Rights Campaign reacts: The presidential memorandum is the first ever U.S. government strategy to deal with human rights abuses against LGBT people abroad. It directs all government agencies that engage in foreign affairs to promote LGBT human …

A spokesman for the Russian government has denounced the U.S. State Department for a statement made in opposition to St. Petersburg’s pending ban on all LGBT-related media and speech. “We view with bewilderment the American side’s attempts to interfere, what’s more, publicly, in the lawmaking process,” foreign ministry representative for human rights, Konstantin Dolgov, told the Interfax news agency. He …

The U.S. State Department has issued a warning which urges all Americans to evacuate Syria immediately. Those who must remain in Syria should limit all non- essential travel within the country, the department said. The warning also advised U.S. citizens to defer all travel plans to Syria. The State Department said several Syrian cities, including the capital, Damascus, have been …

The U.S. State Department has issued a letter condemning the arrests of gay activists in Moscow over the weekend. STATEMENT BY MARK TONER, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON Concern about Freedom of Assembly in Russia We note with concern that in Moscow on Saturday, May 28, a peaceable demonstration of Russians advocating for the rights of gays and lesbians, joined by international supporters, …

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has issued a statement supporting today’s International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). Via press release: In every part of the world, men and women are persecuted and attacked because of who they are or whom they love. Homophobia, transphobia and the brutal hostility associated with them are often rooted in a lack of understanding of what …

Here’s an excerpt from the U.S. State Department’s press release on yesterday’s historic United Nations resolution. A total of 85 nations have signed on the Obama administration’s call to battle for LGBT rights around the world. 20 countries joined this statement that were neither signatory to the 2006 or 2008 statements. The statement garnered support from every region of the …

Last December the State Department announced that passport applications would begin using the terms “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” rather than “mother” and “father.” But predictably, anti-gay and Christianist groups have been screaming their heads off and today Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered an amending of the planned change. The State Department said Saturday that Clinton had instructed the …

Here’s the full video to accompany the text excerpt from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech that I posted yesterday. It’s pretty great.

U.S. Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, Eric Schwartz, spoke today about the State Department’s attempts to improve the handling of asylum requests by LGBT refugees. Schwartz was speaking at the State Department’s LGBT Pride Month reception and this video was posted to their official YouTube channel. RELATED: Good As You has Secretary Clinton’s Pride Month …

If you’d like to change the listed gender on your passport, the U.S. State Department has dropped its requirement that you must have already had sexual reassignment surgery. The policy, which goes into effect Thursday, allows a gender change with a certification from an attending physician. The doctor’s certification must confirm only that the passport applicant has undergone treatment for …

The U.S. State Department has denounced the Malawi government’s conviction of two gay men for “unnatural acts and gross indecency.” “The United States is deeply disappointed in today’s conviction of same-sex couple Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza in Malawi,” said assistant secretary Phillip J. Crowley at a press briefing Wednesday. “We view the criminalization of sexual orientation and gender identity …

The U.S. State Department says that Uganda’s pending “kill gays” bill is a “serious affront to internationally accept human rights standards” and that it is reviewing Uganda’s preferred trade status. HRC Back Story reports: As a condition of receiving preferred status under AGOA, a country must not be engaged in “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” In its letter, …

A lawsuit has been filed with the Supreme Court charging that Hillary Clinton is ineligible to serve as Secretary of State because as a Senator she had voted to increase the salary of the position she now holds. The litigants claim that vote, made in 2007, is forbidden by an arcane clause of the U.S. Constitution. Before Clinton was confirmed, …

Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders have won their first DOMA-related suit, in which a married gay person will be allowed to list his or her changed name on their U.S. passport. GLAD filed its lawsuit, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, in March to challenge section 3 of DOMA on behalf of six married same-sex couples and three men …

The U.S. State Department has issued a statement condemning the torture and murders of gay men in Iraq and has begun discussions on the issue with the Iraqi government in Baghdad. “In general, we absolutely condemn acts of violence and human rights violations committed against individuals in Iraq because of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” State Department spokesman Ian …

Secretary of State Clinton has ruled that the State Department will grant equal benefits to gay diplomats. In a notice to be sent soon to State Department employees, Clinton says regulations that denied same-sex couples and their families the same rights and privileges that straight diplomats enjoyed are “unfair and must end,” as they harm U.S. diplomacy. “Providing training, medical …