Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: The norms of good governance, human rights protections, and the rule of law have been violated unconscionably with respect to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) peoples in an overwhelming majority of countries around the world, where LGBTI people face violence, hatred, bigotry and discrimination because of who they are and whom they love. In 75 countries, or almost 40 percent of the world, same-sex relations and relationships are criminalized.
These include Nigeria, Egypt, and Uganda, among others. Homosexuality is punishable by death in at least 8 countries. Many countries also criminalize or otherwise prohibit cross-dressing and gender-affirming treatments for transgender individuals. Criminalizing LGBTI status or conduct is at the base of political, social and economic injustice toward LGBTI individuals in many countries. The World Bank has begun to measure the macro-economic costs of criminal laws targeting LGBTI individuals through lost productivity, detrimental health outcomes and violence, as a step toward mitigating those costs.
Violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity are documented in the Department of State’s annual Country Human Rights Reports to Congress. These reports continue to show a clear pattern of human rights violations in every region of the world based on sexual orientation and gender identity. These violations include murder, rape, torture, death threats, extortion, and imprisonment, in many cases with the complicity of governing officials. In the Russian autonomous region of Chechnya, Chechen authorities have been found directly complicit in the round-up, torture, and murders of LGBTI men.
In Indonesia, public humiliation and punishment of gay men has been carried out. In Jamaica, lesbian women have been subjected to so-called corrective rape . As documented by the State Department, LGBTI individuals are subjected in many countries to capricious imprisonment, loss of employment, housing, access to health care, and societal stigma and discrimination. LGBTI-specific restrictions on basic freedoms of assembly, press, and speech exist in every region of the world. Public support for LGBTI communities is prohibited in many countries, including Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, and Egypt.
Targeted sanctions are an important tool to push for accountability for violations of the human rights of LGBTI people. In December 2017, the United States imposed sanctions on Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and head of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs Ayub Kataev, for committing extrajudicial imprisonment, torture, and murder, including of gay men, in Chechnya. Anti-LGBTI laws and discrimination pose significant risks for LGBTI youth who come out to their family or community and often face rejection, homelessness, and limited educational and economic opportunities.
These factors contribute to increased risks of substance abuse, suicide, and HIV infection among LGBTI youth. Anti-LGBTI laws also increase global health risks. Studies have shown that when LGBTI people, especially LGBTI youth, face discrimination, they are less likely to seek HIV testing, prevention, and treatment services. In countries such as Tanzania, government authorities have closed down access to HIV services for gay men. LGBTI populations are disproportionately impacted by the Mexico City Policy, also widely referred to as the global gag rule , which was reinstated and expanded by President Donald J.
Trump on January 23, 2017. LGBTI people often receive much of their healthcare through reproductive health clinics, and organizations that cannot comply with the policy are forced to discontinue work on United States-supported global health projects that are frequently used by LGBTI populations, including HIV prevention and treatment, stigma reduction, and research. Because they face tremendous discrimination in the formal labor sector, many sex workers are also LGBTI individuals, and many sex-worker-led programs and clinics serve the LGBTI community with safe, non-stigmatizing, medical and social care.
USAID has also referred to sex workers as a most-at-risk population . The anti-prostitution loyalty oath that health care providers receiving United States assistance must take isolates sex-worker-led and serving groups from programs and reinforces stigma, undermining both the global AIDS response and human rights. The Supreme Court found this requirement unconstitutional as it applies to United States nongovernmental organizations and their foreign affiliates in 2013. According to the Trans Murder Monitoring Project, which monitors homicides of transgender individuals, 2,343 transgender and gender-diverse people were murdered between 2008 and 2016, in 69 countries.
In many countries, intersex individuals experience prejudice and discrimination because their bodies do not conform to general expectations about sex and gender. Because of these expectations, medically unnecessary interventions are often performed in infancy without the consent or approval of intersex individuals, in violation of international human rights standards. Asylum and refugee protection are critical last-resort protections for LGBTI individuals, but those who seek such protections face ostracization and abuse in refugee camps and detention facilities.
They are frequently targeted for violence, including sexual assault, in refugee camps and in immigration detention. LGBTI individuals may be segregated against their will for long periods in solitary confinement, in an effort to protect them from such violence, but prolonged solitary confinement itself represents an additional form of abuse that is profoundly damaging to the social and psychological well-being of any individual. The one-year filing deadline to apply for United States asylum also disproportionately impacts LGBTI individuals, as does the severe backlog in immigration cases that LGBTI individuals must endure.
The lack of legal representation in asylum and refugee adjudication proceedings imposes an often insurmountable barrier to protection and durable resettlement. In December 2011, President Barack Obama directed all Federal foreign affairs agencies to ensure that their diplomatic, humanitarian, health and foreign assistance programs take into account the needs of marginalized LGBTI communities and persons. In 2015, the Department of State established the position of Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons.
In 2017, the Trump Administration indicated to Congress that it will retain this position, which as of the date of the enactment of this Act has still not been filled. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief’s 2018 Annual Report to Congress states that In order to reach epidemic control, we must address the underlying social and cultural issues, especially unequal human rights and stigma and discrimination, that prevent people from accessing HIV prevention and treatment services .
The use of United States diplomatic tools, including the Department of State’s exchange and speaker programs, to address the human rights needs of marginalized communities has helped inform public debates in many countries regarding the protective responsibilities of any democratic government. In 2016, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution cosponsored by the United States that established an independent expert on violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity to help monitor and track discrimination and violence experienced by LGBTI persons around the world.
According to the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, as published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and according to the July 2017 report of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, countries should review and reform criminal laws and correctional systems to ensure that they are consistent with international human rights obligations and are not misused or targeted against vulnerable groups.
Engaging multilateral fora and international institutions is critical to impacting global norms and to broadening global commitments to fairer standards for the treatment of all people, including LGBTI. The United States must remain a leader in the United Nations system and has a vested interest in the success of that multilateral engagement. Ongoing United States leadership in the Equal Rights Coalition, which is a new intergovernmental coalition of more than 40 governments and leading civil society organizations that work together to protect the human rights of LGBTI people around the world, remains vital to international efforts to respond to violence and impunity.
Those who represent the United States abroad, including our diplomats, development specialists and military, should reflect the diversity of our country and honor America’s call to equality, including through proud and open service abroad by LGBTI Americans and those living with HIV.