LGBT Human Rights Group Calls On Trump Administration To Continue Global Efforts

John McDonald READ TIME: 2 MIN.

A global LGBT organization is calling on President-elect Donald J. Trump to continue efforts by the American government to safeguard the rights of society's most vulnerable people.

OutRight Action International released the following statement on Friday:

"The U.S. must continue to recognize that LGBTIQ rights are human rights. We cannot allow this progress to be reversed during the Trump administration," said Jessica Stern, Executive Director of OutRight Action International, in a news release.

Stern went on to highlight a list of accomplishments by the United States during the eight years of President Barack Obama's administration.
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Appointing a Special Envoy for LGBTI rights, banning USAID contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, financially supporting the Global Equality Fund and issuing a presidential memorandum to advance LGBT rights are at the top of Stern's list.

"We know the value of organizing, taking on the fight, and growing a more inclusive movement that promotes those who support human right for everyone," Stern said. "We are stronger today than we ever have been before and are committed to growing the global movement for LGBTIQ rights as we all move forward."
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Formerly known as the Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, OutRight International was founded in 1990 during the George H.W. Bush administration and has a solid track record of working effectively, Stern said, with conservative governments around the world.

During his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention Trump promised that he will "do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of the hateful foreign ideology."

According to OutRight Action International, one in three people live in a country where LGBTQI individuals can be arrested and jailed just for being who they are. OAI estimates nearly three billion people live in place where human rights of LGBTQI people are abused.

Despite those numbers, there are American organizations seeking to stop any attempts to help.

The National Organization for Marriage released a detailed plan on Wednesday of how it intends to work with the Trump administration to roll back LGBT rights.

"We will work with President Trump to reverse the policies of the Obama administration that seek to coerce other countries into accepting same-sex 'marriage' as a condition of receiving U.S. assistance and aid. It is fundamentally wrong for a president to become a lobbyist for the LGBT agenda, and we are confident that will end in a Trump administration," writes Brian S. Brown, President of NOM.


by John McDonald

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