In a clear, clarion call, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the world “Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.” Clinton’s historic and unabashed affirmation of gay rights came in Geneva on Wednesday while speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
On the same day, President Barack Obama released a memorandum tying all foreign aid to a nation's record on respecting the rights of their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people. The presidential memorandum gives form, substance, and teeth to Clinton’s noble sentiment, and puts the United States on the right side of history.
Indeed, addressing this long neglected human rights tragedy is a historic moment, and one that all Americans should take deep pride in. Yet many conservative Christians in the U.S. are angry that the United States government would ask that LGBT people be treated with the dignity and respect their humanity demands.
“what was once justified as sanctioned by God is now properly reviled as an unconscionable violation of human rights”
Many conservative Christians are angry that Obama and Clinton would speak out on behalf of the LGBT population. Leading Christian evangelist Pat Robertson, speaking for many conservative Christians, denounced the Obama administration’s tough stand in support of LGBT people, claiming “God will punish us for supporting gay rights.”
However, anticipating the objections of homophobic religious conservatives, be they Muslims, Christians, or Jews, Secretary of State Clinton was clear that religious superstition is no excuse for discriminating against, or otherwise abusing the LGBT population. About the inevitable religious objections Clinton said:
“This is not unlike the justification offered for violent practices towards women like honor killings, widow burning, or female genital mutilation. Some people still defend those practices... But violence toward women is criminal. Likewise with slavery, what was once justified as sanctioned by God is now properly reviled as an unconscionable violation of human rights. In each of these cases, we came to learn that no practice or tradition trumps the human rights that belong to all of us.”
Clinton’s clear rejection of religious homophobia around the globe and the Obama administration’s willingness to punish those nations that indulge the bigotry and hatred of religious conservatives is a welcome development in gay rights, and human rights. On this one particular, all Americans can take pride.
Comments