Hot on the heels of the UK Prime Minister declaring that those receiving British overseas aid should respect gay rights, the Obama administration has declared it will use its foreign aid and diplomacy to fight discrimination against gays and lesbians overseas.

 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience of diplomats in Geneva that "gay rights are human rights". A memo from the Obama administration directs US government agencies to consider gay rights when making aid and asylum decisions. Similar policies already exist for gender equality and ethnic violence.

 

"It should never be a crime to be gay" Mrs Clinton said at the United Nations in Geneva, adding that a country's cultural or religious traditions was no excuse for discrimination.

 

"Gay people are born into and belong to every society in the world," Mrs Clinton said in Geneva. "Being gay is not a Western invention. It is a human reality."

 

Her audience included representatives from countries where homosexuality is a criminal offence. Many ambassadors rushed out of the room as soon as Mrs Clinton finished speaking, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Not surprisingly, some in the US are not impressed.

 

Republican presidential candidates criticised the administration's decision, with Texas Governor Rick Perry saying in a statement that "promoting special rights for gays in foreign countries is not in America's interests and not worth a dime of taxpayers' money".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16062937

 

And those who rushed out of the room no doubt included representatives of countries like Nigeria where homosexuality is still illegal. Nigeria only recently passed a law not only banning cohabitation and/or same-sex marriages but punishing those who aid or abet such event with jail terms of up to 14 years.

 

"We are protecting humanity and family values, in fact, we are protecting civilization in its entirety," Senator Ahmed Lawan tells the BBC from his office in the capital, Abuja. "Should we allow for indiscriminate same-sex marriage, very soon the population of this world would diminish."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15992099

 

Hopefully the US and UK governments will follow up their words with some form of concrete action

Hopefully the US and UK governments will follow up their words with some form of concrete action

 

Kicking out the Nigerian embassies would be a good start. Then if they don't move on the issue, start making moves to restrict trade.