Around what goal is US foreign policy organized? Expanding the list of countries that are tolerant of homosexuality, apparently, as that’s what Karine Jean Pierre and John Kirby announced that gay rights are a key plank of US foreign policy.
That came during the March 22nd and 21st White House Press Briefings and was sparked by a set of laws passed by the Uganda legislature recently. Reporting on them, CNN said:
Ugandan lawmakers on Tuesday approved some of the world’s harshest anti-gay laws, making some crimes punishable by death and imposing up to 20 years in prison for people identifying as LGBTQ+.
The new legislation constitutes a further crackdown on LGBTQ+ people in a country where same-sex relations were already illegal – punishable by life imprisonment. It targets an array of activities, and includes a ban on promoting and abetting homosexuality as well as conspiracy to engage in homosexuality, Reuters reported.
According to the bill, the death penalty can be invoked for cases involving “aggravated homosexuality” – a broad term used in the legislation to describe sex acts committed without consent or under duress, against children, people with mental or physical disabilities, by a “serial offender,” or involving incest.
Predictably, that sort of hysterical leftist reporting on the package of laws sent the White House in a tizzy. It apparently missed the memo, or just didn’t care, that the laws go after rapists and child molesters, as the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh pointed out on Twitter:
What the media isn’t mentioning is that the law invokes the death penalty for rapists and child molesters https://t.co/b4SyQFMuVw
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) March 22, 2023
Others pointed out that maybe the Ugandans don’t want to be colonized by the West again:
Perhaps Uganda doesn’t want its culture colonized by the West again. Maybe the people there would rather fly their own flag than yours. https://t.co/xa18gUMqVE pic.twitter.com/minkMnRIvV
— Delano Squires (@DelanoSquires) March 22, 2023
In any case, John Kirby and KJP were worked up into an uproar over the Ugandan laws. KJP, beginning, the press conference, said:
Before I turn it over to my NSC colleague here, I want to say one thing at the top. We have grave concerns with the passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Act — AHA — by the Parliament of Uganda yesterday and increasing violence targeting LGBTQI+ persons.
If the AHA is signed into law and enacted, it would impinge upon universal human rights, jeopardize progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS, deter tourism and
invest[investment] in Uganda, and damage Uganda’s international reputation.The bill is one of the most extreme anti-LGBTQI+ laws in the world.
Human rights are universal. No one should be attacked, imprisoned, or killed simply because of who they are or whom they love.
And with that, my colleague, John Kirby, is here to offer a preview of the President’s upcoming trip to Canada — as you know, the President will be heading to Canada tomorrow — and answering any lingering questions about President Putin and President Xi’s meeting this week in Moscow.
That came a day after John Kirby announced, on March 21st, that gay rights are a key part of US foreign policy, saying:
Oh, of course it is. I mean, and — and President Biden has been nothing but consistent about his belief — foundational belief in human rights. And LGBTQ+ rights are human rights.
And we — again, back to the earlier question — are never going shy away or be bashful about speaking up for those rights and for — for individuals to live as they deem fit, as they want to live. And that’s something that’s a core part of our foreign policy, and it will remain so.
Kirby’s claim that gay rights are a key US foreign policy plank came after a reporter asked him:
Today, the Ugandan Parliament voted in favor of anti-homosexuality bill and is set to host a summit soon with other African nations on potentially passing other bills across the continent. It’s my understanding that Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield spoke to the Ugandan president about this bill.
I — I ask this question because I — sources tell me that Russia may be playing a major role in the influence of this larger anti-LGBTQ movement and is using it as a wedge between the U.S. and Africa.
Considering the U.S. is currently engaging with Africa on other issues, is this a concern for the U.S.?
Watch Kirby here:
JOHN KIRBY: "LGBTQ+ rights…are a core part of our foreign policy." pic.twitter.com/hNsVknCc5P
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 21, 2023
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