Rob Salerno @ Xtra.ca:

Yesterday, we drew your attention to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s landmark gay rights speech at the UN Human Rights Council. While it’s great that Hillary acknowledged the struggles gay people face around the world, her speech and a simultaneously released White House executive order also lay out some landmark commitments that the US government is making in the global fight for gay equality

First, what this order doesn’t do is tie US foreign aid to recipient countries’ attitudes on gay rights, an action UK Prime Minister David Cameron has recently committed to taking. Despite speculation in a lot of media sources and even from politicians in Nigeria and Uganda, both US allies, that the bill would threaten their bottom lines because of their recent anti-gay legislation, it’s not clear that the US will go that far.

What the Obama administration has directed the US government to do is fight the criminalization of queer status or conduct abroad, protect vulnerable queer refugees and asylum seekers, use foreign aid to protect human rights, ensure swift and meaningful responses to human rights abuses of queer persons, work to fight for queer equality in international forums (ie, the UN), and deliver progress reports annually, with the first report coming in six months.

Clinton gave some concrete examples of how the US is stepping up: providing queer-safe spaces and programming in US embassies around the world; establishing a fund for the training of queer activists; and lobbying directly for queer rights.

While these sound like baby steps, they’re actually major commitments that could have a lasting impact on the fight for queer rights. The US is stepping up to provide space for discussion of queer rights in some of the most hostile places on earth.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE @ XTRA.CA