Related: Obama's Land Mines
Also see: Sand Trap
Be careful hitting out:
"US aiming to make gay rights a global effort" by Vanessa Gera | Associated Press June 29, 2014
WARSAW — President Obama has taken the US gay rights revolution global, using American embassies across the world to promote a cause that still divides his own country.
Sometimes, US advice and encouragement is condemned as unacceptable meddling. And sometimes, it can seem to backfire, increasing the pressure on those it is meant to help.
With gay pride parades taking place in many cities across the world this weekend, the US’s role will be more visible than ever. Diplomats will take part in parades, and some embassies will fly the rainbow flag along with the stars and stripes.
The United States sent five openly gay ambassadors abroad last year, with a sixth nominee, to Vietnam, now awaiting Senate confirmation. American diplomats are working to support gay rights in countries such as Poland, where prejudice remains deep, and to oppose violence and other abuse in countries like Nigeria and Russia, where gays face life-threatening risks.
‘‘It is incredible. I am amazed by what the US is doing to help us,’’ said Mariusz Kurc, the editor of a Polish gay advocacy magazine, Replika, which has received US funding. ‘‘We are used to struggling and not finding any support.’’
Former president George W. Bush supported AIDS-prevention efforts globally, but the Obama administration pushed to make lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights an international issue.
The watershed moment came in December 2011, when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went to the United Nations in Geneva and proclaimed LGBT rights ‘‘one of the remaining human rights challenges of our time.’’
Since then, embassies have been opening their doors to gay rights activists, hosting events, and supporting local advocacy work. The State Department has since spent $12 million on the efforts in more than 50 countries through the Global Equality Fund, an initiative launched to fund the new work.
Just weeks after the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Defense of Marriage Act last June, consular posts also began issuing immigrant visas to the same-sex spouses of gay Americans.
One beneficiary was Jake Lees, a 27-year-old Englishman who had been forced to spend long periods apart from his American partner, Austin Armacost, since they met six years ago. In May, Lees was issued a fiance visa at the US Embassy in London. The couple married two weeks ago and are now starting a new life together in Franklin, Ind., as they wait for Lees’s green card.
‘‘I felt like the officers at the embassy treated us the way they would treat a heterosexual couple,’’ Armacost said. ‘‘It’s a mind-boggling change after gay couples were treated like legal strangers for the first three centuries of our country’s history.’’
Some conservative American groups are outraged by the policy. Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, calls it ‘‘a slap in the face to the majority of Americans,’’ given that American voters have rejected same-sex marriage in a number of state referendums.
‘‘This is taking a flawed view of what it means to be a human being — male and female — and trying to impose that on countries throughout the world,’’ Brown said. ‘‘The administration would like people to believe that this is simply ‘live and let live.’ No, this is coercion in its worst possible form.’’
Well, I don't know about that. I think torture and military force might be the worst.
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"Critics decry rally to urge gay rights
Thousands of gay rights activists gathered in downtown Singapore on Saturday for a rally that came under criticism from religious conservatives, with one Christian pastor calling on the government to ban the event. Previous rallies were held without much opposition. But as the numbers grew from fewer than 3,000 people when the first event was held in 2009 to more than 20,000 last year, so did the disapproval. Organizers said a record 26,000 people showed up Saturday (AP)."
I'm just trying not to step on anything.
