Curtis Ried, an advisor to Ambassador Susan Rice, leaves the chamber of the UN Security Council (USUN Image)
Editor’s note: Click here for Ambassador Rice’s full remarks to Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies (GLIFAA). On Monday, June 27, at 10:25 a.m., Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver remarks to GLIFAA in the Dean Acheson Auditorium at the Department of State. They will be carried live at www.state.gov.
Life at the State Department has changed immeasurably for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees since the founding of Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies (GLIFAA) in 1992. As a member of GLIFAA and a Foreign Service Officer, I deeply appreciate the dedication of the Obama Administration to ensuring that LGBT members of the Foreign Service enjoy many more equal benefits for our partners and families than was the case until just a few years ago. On a broader level, the central role this Administration has given to the promotion of human rights for LGBT persons around the world is a tremendous source of pride for me and for my fellow LGBT colleagues.
GLIFAA was thus particularly honored to host Ambassador Susan Rice at a commemoration of LGBT Pride Month on Friday in Washington, DC. Standing before nearly 80 employees of the Department of State and NGO representatives who work on LGBT issues, Ambassador Rice spoke passionately about the work of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations to strengthen the LGBT community’s basic human rights worldwide. Crucially, she marked the June 17 passage of a historic Human Rights Council resolution dedicated to advancing the fundamental human rights of LGBT persons – the first such resolution ever to pass a vote by a UN body. Ambassador Rice said:
When the U.S. delegation voted yes in Geneva, we reaffirmed a basic American promise: to fight discrimination in any guise and to embrace diversity in every form. The Obama Administration is proud to work to make that promise real. We’ve taken historic strides to advance LGBT equality and to strengthen LGBT families and communities.
Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/06/24/marking-progress-lgbt-americans-foreign-affairs
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