Gay Rights Finally Are Human Rights — Here and Abroad

[William769]

As coverage of Russia’s antigay policies explodes across the Internet, it may seem that President Vladimir Putin and his fervor for the so-called “homosexual propaganda” law is the best thing that ever happened to America’s gay rights involvement abroad. Having Putin — a ruler that many Americans still view with cold-war suspicion — become the poster boy for antiquated views on LGBT people has provided the perfect villain for reframing the debate in the heart of America.

But in part, Russia’s deplorable missteps simply arrived at a time when American politics had finally caught up to our stated diplomacy, allowing U.S. politicians to stand on firmer moral ground abroad.

When the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals were first unequivocally declared a U.S. foreign policy issue, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stood before a packed room of more than 500 State Department employees at Foggy Bottom in June of 2010.

“Just as I was very proud to say the obvious more than 15 years ago in Beijing,” she said, channeling another famous speech, “that human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights — well, let me say today that human rights are gay rights, and gay rights are human rights, once and for all.”

At the time, the nation’s military was still systematically discriminating against its own servicemembers, she and President Obama had yet to declare their support for marriage equality, and the Supreme Court was a few years away from gutting the heart of the objectionable Defense of Marriage Act.

http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2013/08/26/op-ed-gay-rights-finally-are-human-rights-here-and-abroad