Anti-LGBTQ

Under the Trump administration, people with decidedly anti-LGBTQ histories hold leadership positions across a number of agencies, offices and entities that represent the U.S. internationally. There are representatives on the State Department’s Commission on Unalienable Rights who believe extending the right to marry to same-sex couples destroys the institution of marriage and sends “profoundly false and damaging messages to children.” The chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has been deemed “the most recognizable anti-LGBTQ activist in America.” Additionally, during his Senate confirmation hearing to become secretary of state, Mike Pompeo reiterated his continued opposition to marriage equality.

Trump administration appointees have tried to impose their anti-LGBTQ views into policy. At the 2019 Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which convened at the United Nations, the United States delegation attempted to remove “gender-responsive” language from the CSW exit documents. U.S. Ambassador Cherith Norman Chalet declared in a speech at the 2019 CSW that “we are not about gender jargon…we are about women and girls.” This rhetoric is seen as an effort to dilute the rights of non-binary individuals, in line with the Trump administration’s broader attacks on the LGBTQ community.