US will use foreign aid to defend gay rights abroad, Clinton, Obama declare: culture no excuse.
I first heard about this on one of those news snippets on The Weather Channel this morning. My gut reaction: how ridiculous when most of our country doesn't legally support gay rights.
It makes me wonder about the power of the almighty dollar though. What if there were financial incentives for states that have legalized same sex marriage and other gay rights? Would money be more important to bigots than their opinions?
As for using foreign aid to encourage gay rights abroad, I hope it helps the worldwide LGBTQ community. But let's have more support and action at home too. How can the US champion gay rights elsewhere if our rights are legally denied so many places here without looking like hypocrites?
4 years ago on TTaT: Finally, another book
Good point, but I'm guessing the rights the US will be defending abroad will be along the lines of "the right not to get killed and/or imprisoned for being queer." Which we do have here, so on that level we're not *too* hypocritical.
ReplyDeleteI was actually going to concede that point but couldn't figure out how to incorporate it into what I was writing. Was breaking up the flow, so I decided to leave it.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I read their/our acts abroad in this matter are not particularly toothsome. Doesn't mean we won't give countries with horrible records money and we won't cut off aid for atrocious behavior either. Hopefully the announcement (and however they intend to implement it) won't make matters worse for lgbt folk in countries that already despise the US and our outlook.