On Oct. 24, Uzra Zeya, the acting assistant secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, spoke at the ILGA-Europe annual conference in Zagrab, Croatia. ILGA is the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. In her remarks, Secretary Zeya said that promotion of human rights, including those for LGBT people, is a "foreign policy priority" of the United States.
Zeya praised new hate crimes legislation in Europe and then said, "But the United States remains extremely concerned about negative trends in a number of countries. The anti-gay propaganda law in Russia and the proposed law to strip gay parents of their parental rights are alarming."
"Laws, even when it is unclear how they will be enforced, are incredibly important," she said. "They are a statement of a country's values and they have a teaching effect. Laws that validate discrimination, as we have seen in Russia, can lead to an increase in violence and harassment. This is particularly true when authorities don't act to protect all of their citizens and when they fail to investigate and prosecute crimes committed by or against particular groups."
Comment: Saudi Arabia is only one of several countries where homosexual acts are illegal and punishable by execution. Russia's recent anti-gay law has essentially legalized homophobic violence, emboldening right-wingers to step up attacks on gays through groups known as Occupy Gerontophilia and Occupy Paedophilia. Russian diplomats say discrimination does not exist in Russia because the country's constitution forbids it (wishful thinkers, those diplomats!). Regardless of who received the "call-out" by the State Department, the spinning moral compass and "two-faced" choice of singling out Russia, while giving a pass to more egregious Saudi Arabia, smacks of blatant political posturing at the expense of humanity and their rights.