Obama, Clinton to world: Support the gay agenda
GENEVA (AP) - The Obama administration bluntly warned the world against gay and lesbian discrimination Tuesday, declaring the U.S. will use foreign assistance as well as diplomacy to back its insistence that gay rights are fully equal to other basic human rights.
In unusually strong language, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton compared the struggle for gay equality to difficult passages toward women's rights and racial equality, and she said a country's cultural or religious traditions are no excuse for discrimination.
"Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights," she said. "It should never be a crime to be gay."
Clinton's audience included diplomats from Arab, African and other nations where homosexuality is criminalized or where brutality and discrimination against gay people is tolerated or encouraged.
Many of the ambassadors in the audience responded with stony faces and rushed out of the room as soon as Clinton finished speaking.
President Barack Obama directed the State Department and other agencies to make sure U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote gay rights and fight discrimination. But there are no specific new consequences for poor performers, meaning the directive is more of a challenge to other governments than a threat.
In announcing the policy the U.S. did not point to individual countries with specifically poor records on gay rights, although an annual State Department accounting of global human rights has cited abuses against gays by such friends as Saudi Arabia.
The White House said Tuesday's announcement marked the first U.S. government strategy to combat human rights abuses against gays and lesbians abroad.
The speech in Geneva, home of the United Nations' human rights body, is also part of the Obama administration's outreach to gays and lesbians, a core Democratic constituency at home. Since taking office, Obama has advocated the repeal of the military's ban on openly gay service members — now accomplished — and has ordered the administration to stop defending a law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
However, Obama has stopped short of backing gay marriage, saying only that his personal views on the matter are evolving. That position and a long delay repealing the military ban have left some gay supporters disgruntled.
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney suggested that gay rights should not be a test for U.S. engagement abroad.
"I will be looking (at) foreign aid, whether it meets our national security interests and, number two, whether these nations are friends of ours and are willing to be friendly with us in ways when it matters the most," he said on Fox News Channel.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry went further.
"Promoting special rights for gays in foreign countries is not in America's interests and not worth a dime of taxpayers' money," a Perry campaign statement said.
Clinton said she knows the United States has an imperfect record on gay rights, and she noted that until 2003 some states had laws on the books that made gay sex a crime. But there is no reason to suggest that gay rights are something only liberal, Western nations can or should embrace, she said. She said nothing about gay marriage.
"Gay people are born into and belong to every society in the world," Clinton said. "Being gay is not a Western invention. It is a human reality."
In her most direct challenge to nations with conservative cultural or religious mores, Clinton catalogued abuses such as targeted killings of gays, "corrective rape" of lesbians or forced hormone treatments. She likened the targeting of gays for mistreatment to "honor killings" of women, widow-burning or female genital mutilation, examples of practices the U.S. decries but has not penalized friends including Afghanistan for carrying out.
"Some people still defend those practices as part of a cultural tradition," she said. "Butviolence toward women isn't cultural; it's criminal."
She also compared the evolution of cultural attitudes toward homosexuality to the changing view of slavery.
"What was once justified as sanctioned by God is now properly reviled as an unconscionable violation of human rights," she said.
The audience included lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists who applauded loudly and whooped in approval when Clinton finished.
Some of the diplomats who were invited were unaware of the topic beforehand, and Clinton introduced her subject gingerly. She said she knew it was sensitive and cut against ingrained traditions and expectations.
"Leadership, by definition, means being out in front of your people when it is called for. It means standing up for the dignity of all citizens and persuading your people to do the same," she said.
In the memorandum issued in Washington, Obama directed U.S. agencies working abroad, including the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, to use foreign aid to assist gays and lesbians who are facing human rights violations. And he ordered U.S. agencies to protect vulnerable gay and lesbian refugees and asylum seekers.
"The struggle to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons is a global challenge, and one that is central to the United States' commitment to promoting human rights," Obama said in a statement.
Gay rights groups praised the order as a significant step for ensuring that gays and lesbians are treated equally around the world.
"Today's actions by President Obama make clear that the United States will not turn a blind eye when governments commit or allow abuses to the human rights of LGBT people," saidJoe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy organization.
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Associated Press writer Frank Jordans in Geneva contributed to this report. Pace reported from Washington.
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December 7, 2011 @ 8:02 am
I respect life including the unborn, but I do not support the gay agenda, nor will I ever be convinced to do so, nor do I believe in sending American tax payer money to foreign countries to protect their alternative lifestyle.
I do not condone violence against any gays and I don’t condone witholding any medical assistance to someone who is openly gay, but it is not the responsibility of this country to protect and assist those who are having problems with governments that do not accept the gay lifestyle. Of course, this is just my opinion which I am expressing, as others are entitled to their own. However, trying to change my mind about homosexuality whether it be here or elsewhere is futile.
I have no idea how these people act in other countries, but if they proceed to flaunt their perverted lifestyles overseas as they do in our country, I can understand why the gays elsewhere are having so many problems. We have become a country that condones almost everything and we cannot “insist” that other countries follow suit. However, we can voice our opinion against violence to gays on a humanitarian basis without spending money that we don’t have to protect those who refuse to keep their lifestyles quiet in countries that abhor their behavior, and where their actual lives are in jeopardy. I suppose it’s just a matter of time before these homosexuals start coming here in droves so that they can do their “own thing” in the land of “opportunity.”
December 7, 2011 @ 9:56 am
newsjunky…I agree with your post…100%..it was very well thought out and you expressed your views in an appropriate but firm manner…
We have a son who is gay…when we found out about his “preferences” my wife was devastated…he asked to meet with me for a lunch and I suspected that he planned to tell me himself (and probably wisely picked a public place so as to minimize any chance I’d react unreasonably in public:>))
I listened quietly, then told him two things…first that neither my God, nor I, approved of the gay life style….and second that I loved him, that he was a good son. I then hugged him.
We can’t cure his lifestyle, leaving that up to prayer and God. He is still part of this big family. But we have rules, the first is for him not to expect his mother and I to “march” and campaign for the gays…as many parents do to remove any guilt they may feel…next, bring his friends, introduce us to his friends, but no one-night-stands in my home…
I also do not accept that becoming gay is an inherited issue…I believe it to externally learned and invited…I also believe counseling by trained professionals might help control behaviors, but it takes longer to change feelings that are “learned”
To date…15 years later…he has never failed to be a good son…and he is “worshiped” by his neices…nor has he “marched” for the cause…he is single, but discards very attractive young women who swoon over him and are those who his younger brother would “kill” for the same opportunities…he has made his lifestyle private.
Hillary, I believe, is in her “element”…and both she and Obimbo are making a fuss primarily because they know the Party needs the votes, not necause European countries need changing.
Like you, newsjunky, I am not about to accept throwing good money, my money, to impress those who have selected a “bedside manner” that enrages me and my God.
The American Psychological Association (s) have long ago dictated to its members that this was a “inherited” rather than a “learned behavoral” issue, warning them not engage in any “conversions”…a distinct attempt by the gay community and liberals to force the professionals and the public to accept that interpretation….
But as a father, I can still have hope……I work for a Jewish Carpenter, and HE can make it happen.
December 7, 2011 @ 10:17 am
I find it disgraceful, that while our own country is falling further and further, our elected officials and appointed government officials, are wasting their time on matters that will do nothing to improve our nation as a whole, and is once again, interfering in what goes on in other countries. Our officials need to butt out of what goes on in the rest of the world, and work at resolving the numerous problems that our own citizens are having. No jobs, losing homes after paying on them for decades, no financial reserves left because of thestock market and big business practices; CEOs that take all the profits out of the companies for themselves, while the stockholders take the hit with declining stock values. Fix things here, and stop worrying about whether or not other countries accept gays and lesbians! Their’s is a very small problem in a very complex nation.
December 7, 2011 @ 10:53 am
downdraft:
I appreciate you sharing that with me, and I admire your ability to be able to talk about it in such a mature, and reasonable way. I’m glad that you and your wife are at peace, and have been able to accept a situation that is not to your liking, nevertheless, was obviously handled in such a way that did not destroy your relationship. Although, I haven’t any homosexuality in my family, there is a laundry list of other problems that I and others have had to deal with, and yes, we still love them all, too. God bless!
December 7, 2011 @ 9:53 am
I have never understood why gays, blacks, women or any other minority should have special laws that apply only to them. It’s wrong, and criminal, to punish others, whether it be something as relatively minor as making them stand on a bus or as major as murder. How is it “more wrong” to murder someone because they’re gay than to murder someone because you got into an argument about where their dog does his business, and things got out of hand? Murder is murder, discrimination is discrimination, and the reason for either simply doesn’t matter. Wrong is wrong, for whatever motive.
A man who violated his oath of office by telling the Justice Department to selectively enforce laws according to what he feels is important wants to tell other nations what their culture should allow? The man is the epitome of arrogance. How fortunate we Americans are to have such an all-knowing leader.
December 7, 2011 @ 10:07 am
Excelent…
But this issue has no priority…it will never have anything to do withsolving our financial “death wish”, or illegal immigration issues, or decline and downward spiral of jobs, our freedom, security, and Constitutional rights being attacked…etc..
But it is brought forward as a distraction…that OBIMBO is losing…that Obimbo is not qualified to resolve our problems…so he concentrates directing our attention to “Mickey Mouse” issues that can rile us and distract us from either his weaknesses or something illegal he is doing behind closed doors….
December 7, 2011 @ 9:53 am
It is time that the American people stand up and say, THE VIEWS REFLECTED BY OUR POLITICAL OFFICIALS DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THOSE OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – ONE NATION UNDER GOD. I object to one minute of time being spent in rationalizing or promoting the gay agenda by any elected official as if it were the peoples voice. It is not.
December 7, 2011 @ 11:19 am
I totally agree Babs,
December 7, 2011 @ 10:00 am
We are standing up and telling the world to go against GOD’s word. Americans, wake up the day is here. You can no longer play, you must heed the warnings. Our Leadership is totally against the word of GOD in this. GOD will not let this pass unnoticed. Get right with GOD, while you still have the chance to do so. His judgement is coming. The sick, disgusting, deadly life style of homosexuality has been forced upon us and now we want to force it upon the rest of the world? In the last days, man will call evil good and good evil. It is here. All these laws being made, the laws are already on the books to protect anyone from harm. Obozo and Clinton just want to push for this to promote the homosexual agenda on to minority status to ensure votes for them. See the evil before your eyes and make the wise choice in the next election.
December 7, 2011 @ 10:18 am
Amen!
December 7, 2011 @ 10:04 am
Newsjunke said “I suppose it’s just a matter of time before these homosexuals start coming here in droves so that they can do their “own thing” in the land of “opportunity.”
Didn’t the separatists say the same thing about Jews, Catholics, Hispanics, and Blacks more than a few years back when? Can you remember or recall the names used to address members of these groups?
While I do understand that gays want civil unions which would grant them the same legal rights as there are in marriages according to varying dogma, do they also want turnstile divorce that’s so typical in heterosexual marriages today? Divorce, adultery and premarital sex have done more to destroy the traditional family than anything else.
Are gays so crazy as to shed their blood for their country when they can let others do it for them? Are they asking for protection against hate and violence which is condemned in the Christian Bible when we read His “Sermon on the Mount?”
I think I too would have a public behavior problem with anyone, regardless of their sexual orientaiton, when such actions invade my equality of rights under the law and deprives me of a Constitutional guarantee of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,”
December 7, 2011 @ 10:19 am
Very well said!
December 7, 2011 @ 10:28 am
Aye, Aye!
December 7, 2011 @ 11:06 am
Discrimination, and name calling has been around since the beginning of time and will continue to be here till the end. The world is comprised of good and evil and all the laws of the land will not eradicate that concept. There is no nirvana here on earth, and hate crimes will continue as long as bad people exist in this world.
Although your argument regarding gays in the service is right on target, this still does not negate the fact that homosexuality is not a lifestyle that is acceptable to God and should not be accepted by man as being “normal.” As I said before, I do not condone violence in any shape or form, and I do believe that people, even those who don’t condone this way of life should not harm those whose lifestyles they do not accept. I am not typing this to change your mind, as you can believe whatever you choose, however, since you’ve mentioned my screen name, I am replying to your response.
December 7, 2011 @ 10:10 am
In Saudi Arabia, being openly Christians is just as illegal as as being openly gay. After all, both offends Islamic sensibility, as I have been told. It seem hypocritical to be silent when it comes to persecution against one group while being open about condemning persecution against other group. After all, practicing Christianity is just as much of a choice as practicing homosexuality or is it not? Just keep in mind that gay people do not choose to be homosexually inclined any more than straight people choose to be heterosexually inclined.
I am also bothered by abortion. I am also bothered about condemnation of unmarried women choosing to have a baby instead of having an abortion. As Jesus once said, let those without sin be the one who cast the first stone. I don’t believe that there is anyone among the GOP (as well as the Democrats) who are without sin.
If we consider the Pledge of Allegiance to be sacred, then we must not stand silent when we see the least one of our brothers and sisters (who just so happen to be gay) suffer blatant miscarriage of justice.
Merry Christmas and may God bless all those who strive to show love to all as the Lord Jesus Christ has commanded us to do.
December 7, 2011 @ 11:19 am
Being left handed is also offensive to Saudis.
December 7, 2011 @ 11:05 am
“Gay people are born into and belong to every society in the world,” Clinton said. “Being gay is not a Western invention. It is a human reality.”
So what, Pedophiles are in every society in the world too, so what’s your point Hilliary?
December 7, 2011 @ 11:08 am
The founders called homosexual behavior “the infamous crime against nature” and said “Sodomy was a behavior so reprehensible to the laws of nature and of nature’s God that many Founders were ashamed even to speak of it.
Sodomy was a criminal offense at common law and was forbidden by the laws of the original 13 States when they ratified the Bill of Rights. . . . In fact, until 1961, all 50 States outlawed sodomy. AND should again!
They have a problem between their ears, they need help for their affliction not tolerance for it.
December 7, 2011 @ 11:27 am
spense: Negro slavery was perfectly legal back when the Bills of Rights were ratified. Also women did not have the right to vote back then. Also, interracial marriage was also illegal. Since then, this country had changed for the better insofar as rights of all people are being recognized by the Bill of Rights.
December 7, 2011 @ 11:41 am
willy, you are comparing apples to oranges. interracial marriage was wrong because it prevented a man & a woman from marrying. EVERYONE has the exact same right to get married… ANY man can marry any woman he chooses and ANY woman can marry any man she chooses, with the usual exceptions for age, relationship, etc… there is no discrimination or loss of rights; the FACT is homos aren’t seeking equality, they want a special right
December 7, 2011 @ 11:10 am
Remember GRIDS (Gay Related Immune Deficiency Syndrome- HIV/AIDS original name)
Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to an evil like homosexual behavior……
December 7, 2011 @ 11:13 am
And just for the record EVERYONE already has the exact same right to get married… ANY man can marry any woman he chooses and ANY woman can marry any man she chooses, with the usual exceptions for age, relationship, etc… there is no discrimination or loss of rights; the FACT is homos aren’t seeking equality, they want a special right
Homosexuality is NOT equal to a race or a biological sex. Homosexuality is very different from race or biological sex. Homosexuality is a behavior. Genetic scientists mapped the human genome and didn’t find a “Gay” gene.
December 7, 2011 @ 11:26 am
You are so right spense. Gays want their sexual preference to give them special rights above and beyond those of heterosexual couples. In other words, they think they deserve more because of certain sex acts they perform. They parade down our streets in front of our children proclaiming their sex acts have given them ‘special’ status….
December 7, 2011 @ 11:33 am
When the perverted sex between homosexuals create a baby, then and only then will I consider supporting a special right to Homosexual Marriage
December 7, 2011 @ 11:33 am
In a world filled with poverty, corruption, violence, disease, economic colapse and nuclear proliferation, the Big O and the Little C lecture the world on gay rights.
Makes me sad to be an American
December 7, 2011 @ 11:34 am
Simple! Obama’s gay votes! BUT when he is finished with them he will toss them aside as the Taliban tosses people aside once they have total power over everyone!
December 7, 2011 @ 11:36 am
Talk about population control…if you aren’t coerced by the mainstream media and our government to become gay then go get an easy breezy abortion!
December 7, 2011 @ 11:40 am
True! But the gays will use adoption or insemination to have children that they can indoctrinate to their life styles such as the ‘so called mother’ who sent her 6 year old son up to Michelle Bachmannto say his mother was gay and did not need to change, as he was being prompted by the ‘so called mother’ to do this. She must be getting ‘mommy of the year’ for this from Obama.
December 7, 2011 @ 11:42 am
It is sad that children born today lose their innocence so young. With television as the babysitter they are indoctrinated into a world that should be reserved for adults. Not to mention the teachers are being forced to teach things to them that the parents should be teaching..but if a teacher hugs one of those children they can be sued..or if a teacher mentions morals or Christ ..the liberals are ruling our world…
December 7, 2011 @ 11:47 am
You are right SAnn..insemination will be the wave of the future for the gays. Gay gals can have the babies through inseminstion from the gay men and adopt them out to the gay men so everyone can have a ‘family’? Then they can raise the children to be gay. Oh how thrilled the liberals will be! The change we can all believe in!
December 7, 2011 @ 11:56 am
Talk about majoring on minor: Obama and Hilary are the dumbo twosome. The debate over Sodomites [ie Sodom in the Bible] and whether they are considered an [alternative] life style is in every way an attempt to evade the real issues of our country and the world. Obama is clueless on the economy and Hillary is clueless on foreign policy. We need people in the White House who reflect this nation’s true ideaology. Instead, we have an administration that is completely out of touch and out of tune with America.
December 7, 2011 @ 12:01 pm
Downdraft:
“Hillary, I believe, is in her “element”…and both she and Obimbo are making a fuss primarily because they know the Party needs the votes, not necause European countries need changing.”
That was my first thought when I read the title of the article. It screamed, vote for me..But then again, he did say he’d have a transparent administration, and nothing could more transparent.
December 7, 2011 @ 12:03 pm
Yes iratd, my first thought was they want to make it up to gays and get their votes before election too! Illegals will probably be next.
December 7, 2011 @ 12:02 pm
billwv I wonder if Obama foresees himself as the great leader and prophet of ‘change’ that begins the New World Order? Where countries who are over populated spread out to other countries such as ours? With abortion so commonplace that the decree of one child per family is easily accomplished and gays are revered because they can’t reproduce? Gone are the big families with lots of brothers and sisters, aunts uncles and cousins. In their place are people dependent upon the NWO and a ‘global family’. Gone is America.