Obama Ties Foreign Aid to Support of Gays
The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that the United States would use all the tools of American diplomacy, including the potent enticement of foreign aid, to promote gay rights around the world.
In a memorandum issued by President Obama in Washington and in a speech by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton here, the administration vowed to actively combat efforts by other nations to discourage homosexual conduct, discriminate against them, or ignore abuse against them.
“Some have suggested that gay rights and human rights are separate and distinct,” Mrs. Clinton said at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, “but in fact they are one and the same.”
Neither Mr. Obama nor Mrs. Clinton specified how to give the initiative teeth. Caitlin Hayden, the National Security Council’s deputy spokeswoman, said the administration was “not cutting or tying” foreign aid to changes in other nation’s practices.
With campaigning already under way in the 2012 presidential contest, Mr. Obama’s announcement should bolster support and campaign contributions among gay voters and donors, who have questioned the depth of his commitment. He chose the Rev. Rick Warren, a pastor who opposes same-sex marriage, to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. Mr. Obama himself has not come out officially in favor of same-sex marriage. But he successfully pushed for repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prevented gays from serving openly in the military. And the Justice Department has said it will no longer defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
The initiative also invites attacks from Republicans trying to appeal to a voters in the primary and caucus states.
One Republican candidate, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, said: “President Obama has again mistaken America’s tolerance for different lifestyles with an endorsement of those lifestyles. I will not make that mistake.”
It could also irritate some American allies, including countries like Turkey, where there have been reports of harassment, and Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is banned and sex between people of the same sex is punishable by death or flogging. Homosexuality is disdained by most the world's religions, and embracing it can alienate many religious nations, as well as be seen as another example of the West's cultural decadence.
Mrs. Clinton’s aides so worried about the reaction of some countries at the Human Rights Council that they did not advertise the theme of her remarks before she delivered them. In the end, no representatives from the council’s 47 member nations walked out.
The administration’s announcement formalizes several steps that Mrs. Clinton has already ordered. She has asked American diplomats to raise the issue wherever harassment or abuse arises and required a record of them in the State Department’s annual report on human rights. On Tuesday, she also announced a $3 million US taxpayer paid program to finance foreign gay-rights organizations to combat what they consider discrimination.
A senior administration official said that the money could be used, for example, to finance a lawyers’ group that is defending gays or to pay for the training of journalists who cover the persecution of gays. It could also provide relocation aid to refugees fleeing violence or persecution.
In Afghanistan, where the United States overthrew the Taliban in 2001 and installed a nominally democratic government, the law “criminalizes homosexual activity.” In Pakistan, too, it is a crime, though rarely prosecuted, the report said.
Homosexuality is accepted in most of Europe, and an increasing number of countries have taken steps to end legal prohibitions. In China, the government decriminalized homosexuality in 1997 and removed it from an official list of psychological disorders in 2001. Mrs. Clinton credited South Africa, Colombia, Argentina, Nepal and Mongolia for taking steps to liberalize their laws.
In countries where gays are discriminated against, she called on leaders to leap ahead of their constituents cultural or social mores, if necessary. See Chick's THE GAY BLADE.
In a memorandum issued by President Obama in Washington and in a speech by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton here, the administration vowed to actively combat efforts by other nations to discourage homosexual conduct, discriminate against them, or ignore abuse against them.
“Some have suggested that gay rights and human rights are separate and distinct,” Mrs. Clinton said at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, “but in fact they are one and the same.”
Neither Mr. Obama nor Mrs. Clinton specified how to give the initiative teeth. Caitlin Hayden, the National Security Council’s deputy spokeswoman, said the administration was “not cutting or tying” foreign aid to changes in other nation’s practices.
With campaigning already under way in the 2012 presidential contest, Mr. Obama’s announcement should bolster support and campaign contributions among gay voters and donors, who have questioned the depth of his commitment. He chose the Rev. Rick Warren, a pastor who opposes same-sex marriage, to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. Mr. Obama himself has not come out officially in favor of same-sex marriage. But he successfully pushed for repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prevented gays from serving openly in the military. And the Justice Department has said it will no longer defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
The initiative also invites attacks from Republicans trying to appeal to a voters in the primary and caucus states.
One Republican candidate, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, said: “President Obama has again mistaken America’s tolerance for different lifestyles with an endorsement of those lifestyles. I will not make that mistake.”
It could also irritate some American allies, including countries like Turkey, where there have been reports of harassment, and Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is banned and sex between people of the same sex is punishable by death or flogging. Homosexuality is disdained by most the world's religions, and embracing it can alienate many religious nations, as well as be seen as another example of the West's cultural decadence.
Mrs. Clinton’s aides so worried about the reaction of some countries at the Human Rights Council that they did not advertise the theme of her remarks before she delivered them. In the end, no representatives from the council’s 47 member nations walked out.
The administration’s announcement formalizes several steps that Mrs. Clinton has already ordered. She has asked American diplomats to raise the issue wherever harassment or abuse arises and required a record of them in the State Department’s annual report on human rights. On Tuesday, she also announced a $3 million US taxpayer paid program to finance foreign gay-rights organizations to combat what they consider discrimination.
A senior administration official said that the money could be used, for example, to finance a lawyers’ group that is defending gays or to pay for the training of journalists who cover the persecution of gays. It could also provide relocation aid to refugees fleeing violence or persecution.
In Afghanistan, where the United States overthrew the Taliban in 2001 and installed a nominally democratic government, the law “criminalizes homosexual activity.” In Pakistan, too, it is a crime, though rarely prosecuted, the report said.
Homosexuality is accepted in most of Europe, and an increasing number of countries have taken steps to end legal prohibitions. In China, the government decriminalized homosexuality in 1997 and removed it from an official list of psychological disorders in 2001. Mrs. Clinton credited South Africa, Colombia, Argentina, Nepal and Mongolia for taking steps to liberalize their laws.
In countries where gays are discriminated against, she called on leaders to leap ahead of their constituents cultural or social mores, if necessary. See Chick's THE GAY BLADE.
posted by chickcomics | 9:56 PM
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