U.S. Support for Global LGBT Equality, Obama to Trump: What Has Been Lost?

Please join us for a two-part panel presentation followed by a reception with food and beverages.

Speakers Include: Former Ambassadors David Pressman and Scott DeLisi; Activists Kenita Placide and Eric Gitari; and Congresswoman Titus

With a third of his term-of-office behind us, President Trump’s voice on human rights and global LGBT equality remains strikingly absent. That leadership void has been filled by worsened abuse and discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender persons abroad, including in countries governed by dictators and despots Trump has embraced. In parallel, the Trump Administration has yet to appoint a Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons, while its foreign policy has been marked by decisions that have empowered religious exemptions to fairness; diminished transgender rights; undermined needed LGBT refugee protections; and restricted health programs needed by LGBT populations, among others.

Join us June 19 for a two-part exploration of America’s eroded leadership on global LGBT inclusion. The discussion will reframe the Obama Administration’s ground-breaking inclusion of LGBT populations in America’s human rights policies and consider the extent to which those policies are still effective – or viable – today.

Part One – The View from Abroad: A Conversation with On-the-Ground LGBT Advocates from Kenya and the Caribbean

Panelists: Kenita Placide, Executive Director of the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE) and Eric Gitari, Executive Director of Kenya's National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC)

In 2015 and 2016, Kenita and Eric were invited to the White House to speak of their LGBT equality efforts in two areas of the world marked by anti-LGBT violence and discrimination. As leading advocates for change in countries where LGBT rights have been under virulent attack, their observations about both progress that’s been made and the long road to equality carry particular poignancy.

Part Two – Looking Back and Looking Forward: Rebuilding American Leadership in Advancing an LGBT-Inclusive Human Rights Vision

Panelists: Former Ambassadors David Pressman and Scott DeLisi

In 2011, President Obama issued a ground-breaking White House directive to include LGBT human rights issues, as appropriate, in the policies and programs of federal foreign affairs agencies. That directive met its first major challenge three years later, when Uganda passed into law a new measure to criminalize LGBT people and their consensual relations. Ambassador David Pressman was a principal drafter of the White House directive; Ambassador Scott DeLisi, who served in Uganda, became a leading diplomatic practitioner in its implementation. This will be their first public conversation about the limits and possibilities of American leadership in standing for LGBT equality abroad.

Conclusion – Introducing the Global LGBTI Vision Bill

Speaker: Representative Dina Titus

For the reasons highlighted in the panel discussions, Congresswoman Titus explains that she will introduce legislation to provide the diplomatic tools, policy guidance and funding needed to return the United States to a place of leadership in support of human rights for LGBTI persons globally.