[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 15 (Thursday, January 29, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S654-S655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mrs. Shaheen, Mrs. Murray, Ms. 
        Warren, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Coons, Mr. 
        Franken, Ms. Mikulski, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Whitehouse, Mrs. 
        Gillibrand, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Schumer, Mr. 
        Brown, Mrs. Boxer, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Booker, Ms. Cantwell, 
        Mr. Murphy, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Casey, Mr. Schatz, and Mr. 
        Blumenthal):
  S. 302. A bill to establish in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, 
and Labor of the Department of State a Special Envoy for the Human 
Rights of LGBT Peoples; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, throughout my career, I have been proud to 
stand up for equality for all Americans regardless of their sexual 
orientation or gender identity. While I have seen much progress with 
respect for the rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender, 
LGBT, community within the United States, the struggle for equality and 
justice abroad remains significant. Many countries have laws that 
criminalize homosexuality, prohibit public support of the LGBT 
community and persecute those who identify as LGBT. To adequately 
address the challenges posed by these discriminatory laws, the United 
States must make LGBT rights a priority in all of our foreign policy 
and there needs to be dedicated position responsible for coordinating 
that effort. That is why, today, I am introducing the International 
Human Rights Defense Act of 2015, which directs the Department of State 
to make international LGBT human rights a foreign policy priority and 
would establish a Special Envoy position in the Bureau of Democracy, 
Human Rights, and Labor responsible for coordinating that effort.
  Over the past few years, conditions have deteriorated for LGBT 
individuals in many regions of the world. Russia enacted a ban on 
arbitrarily-defined ``homosexual propaganda,'' endangering the position 
of many LGBT individuals and their allies. Russia's law has been the 
basis for similar legislation threatened or introduced in countries 
across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including Lithuania, 
Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus. In December 2013, India's Supreme Court 
reversed a lower court ruling and reinstated the criminalization of 
homosexuality in the second most populous nation on earth. Nigeria, 
Uganda, and Gambia have all passed laws that make homosexuality a crime 
punishable with life imprisonment. While Uganda's law was overturned by 
its Constitutional Court, leaders have pledged to pursue similar 
legislation. Conditions for transgender individuals are particularly 
troubling in Brazil, where 113 transgender individuals were murdered in 
a 1-year period.
  In light of these alarming developments, I am introducing the 
International Human Rights Defense Act of 2015. It is critical that the 
United States fight for LGBT equality both at

[[Page S655]]

home and abroad. The Obama Administration has taken great steps in 
affirming and strengthening the United States' commitment to LGBT 
equality as a critical component of our international human rights 
objectives. However, our government does not yet have a comprehensive 
strategy for addressing LGBT discrimination overseas and we lack a 
central individual office responsible for inter-bureau and inter-agency 
coordination to achieve these objectives.
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