A couple days ago Obama issued a memo that all government agencies that do work outside of the country are to "promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons." It is a lengthy memo and lists a wide variety of ways American agencies should do this work: Combat criminalization, protect asylum seekers, use foreign aid to build respect for LGBT people, respond swiftly to abuse of gay people, and help organizations that fight against LGBT discrimination. All good to see.
The same day Hillary Clinton gave a speech as part of International Human Rights Day. Her 30 minute speech was all about how the Universal Declaration of Human Rights applies to LGBT people. Find both video and transcript here.
Response was as expected. Rick Perry spouted off about how much Obama is out of step with America. He followed it up with a new campaign ad claiming it is wrong for gays to serve in the military while kids aren't allowed to pray in public school. That prompted an essay about how deeply Perry hates gay people.
And, while I don't want to go digging for every last link, Rick Santorum, Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, Matt Barber of the Liberty Council, and Pat Robertson weighed in condemning the policy, as expected. Actually, Robertson has a point. He says Obama is making a big deal about other countries persecuting gay people but is silent about other countries persecuting Christians. Well, yeah, all persecution is wrong.
Obama's policy and Clinton's announcement didn't get much notice in American TV news.
In response, Nigeria told us to get our noses out of its business and a draconian anti-gay bill was introduced to its House of Representatives (having already passed the Senate barely the day before). And Cameroon is talking of increasing the penalties of its anti-gay laws.
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