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Clinton emails: ‘We should emphasize LGBT human rights’

Former secretary of state responds to Iraq, creation of LGBT liaison

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Hillary Clinton, gay news, Washington Blade

Hillary Clinton, gay news, Washington Blade

Hillary Clinton called for emphasis of LGBT rights in her State Department emails. Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The State Department late Tuesday made public 3,000 pages of emails from Hillary Clinton during her tenure as secretary of state, including one message in which she seeks to “emphasize LGBT human rights” in Iraq amid media reports of anti-LGBT human rights violations in the country.

Clinton, who’s now pursing the Democratic nomination for president in 2016, expressed the view in response to a 2009 Voice of America report forwarded to her by adviser Cheryl Mills on the alleged murder and torture of gay Iraqi men, many of whom reportedly said they were more secure under the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Clinton responded 11 minutes after Mills sent her the article.

“So sad and terrible,” Clinton writes. “We should ask Chris Hill to raise this w govt. If we ever get Posner confirmed we should emphasize LGBT human rights.”

Clinton email #1

The Chris Hill to which Clinton is referring is likely the U.S. ambassador to Iraq during the first two years of the Obama administration. Posner is likely Michael Posner, who came to serve in the State Department after his confirmation as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor.

Clinton’s call for pushing LGBT rights within the State Department is consistent with her stated philosophy that “gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights” and her 2011 speech in Geneva in which she highlighted international LGBT rights concerns.

Other emails in the batch unveiled on Tuesday, which span from March to December 2009, demonstrate the hang-wringing on the perceived lack of progress on LGBT issues in the first years of the Obama administration and the potential creation of a State Department official dedicated to LGBT human rights.

The emails reveal that among the individuals forwarding articles to the Clinton State Department on LGBT rights was Richard Socarides, a gay New York-based advocate who advised former President Bill Clinton on gay rights issues.

Socarides told the Washington Blade that as a former White House official he sometimes passed along information and reports he thought would be of interest to the State Department. Sometimes, Socarides said, Clinton’s staff reached out to him with a specific question.

“From what I can tell, these emails are all part of that back-and-forth,” Socarides.

In one email to Mills, Socarides forwards a Gay City News article on anti-LGBT brutality in Iraq and writes, “You guys will have to deal with this at some point if not already.”

In response to the exchange, Socarides expressed satisfaction with how issues related to the rights of LGBT Iraqis were handled, saying it was part of ongoing concern about the country and “raised by our government at many levels and on repeated occasions.”

In another email dated May, 22, 2009, Mills forwards to Clinton an article in the Advocate on a draft letter signaling the State Department’s intention to extend partner benefits to gay Foreign Service officers.

Clinton’s response isn’t revealed, but Mills commentary on the article is simply “Oh my.”

Clinton Email #2

In another December 2009 email in which he forwards a Voice of America article on evangelical leaders spreading anti-gay sentiment in Africa, Socarides recommends the creation of an international LGBT point person.

“There is a lot of appreciation for everything the Dept has done around this so far and I think you could really build on it by putting someone there in charge of international LGBT human right issues,” Socarides said.

Socarides’ email was in turn forwarded to Clinton by Mills, who endorsed the idea, saying, “I think this is a good idea — what do you think?”

Clinton’s initial response was “Mira patel in sp told me she is already starting to do this. Do you want someone in drl.” The rest of Clinton’s response is redacted by the State Department. Mira Patel served at the State Department as an advisor for Clinton after having served on her Senate staff.

The response from Clinton apparently wasn’t adequate for Mills, who responded she “would want someone higher profile” and Patel is likely preparing a “response to incoming rather as an affirmative agenda.”

“Not sure how I got to be the person pushing all things in this area — think from the earlier reports on family benefits but as a general matter — we have a reaction mechanism right how (to others, to me sending emails re Uganda (and now Uganda is doing same kind of anti-gay law)) etc.,” Mills writes. “This would be someone who’s profile would be an affirmative agenda.”

Clinton has a short response to Mills eight minutes later, “Let’s discuss.” The Clinton emails don’t reveal the resolution of this discussion, which may have been taken offline.

In response to the email exchange, Socardies pointed to the appointment of Daniel Baer as deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor. Part of the portfolio for Baer, who now serves as U.S. ambassador to Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe, was international LGBT rights issues.

No specific LGBT international affairs official was appointed during Clinton’s tenure, but the State Department named Randy Berry as special envoy for the human rights of LGBTI persons under current Secretary of State John Kerry.

Clinton email #3

The emails unveiled by the State Department aren’t the last missives expected to be made public. As a result of a Freedom of Information Act request and the direction from Clinton herself, the emails are slated to keep coming on a rolling basis and all 55,000 pages should be public by Jan. 29. Clinton deleted an estimated 32,000 emails on recommendation from her legal team.

Over the course of her tenure at the State Department period, Clinton opposed same-sex marriage. The Blade could find no emails discussing the issue or any potential evolution on her views. Clinton endorsed same-sex marriage after she left the State Department in 2013.

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Iran

Grenell: ‘Real hope’ for gay rights in Iran as result of nationwide protests

Former ambassador to Germany claimed he has sneaked ‘gays and lesbians out of’ country

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Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January 2025. (Washington Blade Photo by Michael Key)

Richard Grenell, the presidential envoy for special missions of the United States, said on X on Tuesday that he has helped “sneak gays and lesbians out of Iran” and is seeing a change in attitudes in the country.

The post, which now has more than 25,000 likes since its uploading, claims that attitudes toward gays and lesbians are shifting amid massive economic protests across the country. 

“For the first time EVER, someone has said ‘I want to wait just a bit,” the former U.S. ambassador to Germany wrote. “There is real hope coming from the inside. I don’t think you can stop this now.”

(Grenell’s post on X)

Grenell has been a longtime supporter of the president.

“Richard Grenell is a fabulous person, A STAR,” Trump posted on Truth Social days before his official appointment to the ambassador role. “He will be someplace, high up! DJT”

Iran, which is experiencing demonstrations across all 31 provinces of the country — including in Tehran, the capital — started as a result of a financial crisis causing the collapse of its national currency. Time magazine credits this uprising after the U.N. re-imposed sanctions in September over the country’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

As basic necessities like bread, rice, meat, and medical supplies become increasingly unaffordable to the majority of the more than 90 million people living there, citizens took to the streets to push back against Iran’s theocratic regime.

Grenell, who was made president and executive director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last year by Trump, believes that people in the majority Shiite Muslim country are also beginning to protest human rights abuses.

Iran is among only a handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

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Virginia

Mark Levine loses race to succeed Adam Ebbin in ‘firehouse’ Democratic primary

State Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker won with 70.6 percent of vote

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Former Va. state Del. Mark Levine (D-Alexandria)

Gay former Virginia House of Delegates member Mark Levine (D-Alexandria) lost his race to become the Democratic nominee to replace gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) in a Jan. 13 “firehouse” Democratic primary.

Levine finished in second place in the hastily called primary, receiving 807 votes or 17.4 percent. The winner in the four-candidate race, state Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, who was endorsed by both Ebbin and Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger received 3,281 votes or 70.6 percent.

Ebbin, whose 39th Senate District includes Alexandria and parts of Arlington and Fairfax Counties, announced on Jan. 7 that he was resigning effective Feb. 18, to take a job in the Spanberger administration as senior advisor at the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority.

Results of the Jan. 13 primary, which was called by Democratic Party leaders in Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax, show that candidates Charles Sumpter, a World Wildlife Fund director, finished in third place with 321 voters or 6.9 percent; and Amy Jackson, the former Alexandria vice mayor, finished in fourth place with 238 votes or 5.1 percent.

Bennett-Parker, who LGBTQ community advocates consider a committed LGBTQ ally, will now compete as the Democratic nominee in a Feb. 10 special election in which registered voters in the 39th District of all political parties and independents will select Ebbin’s replacement in the state senate.

The Alexandria publication ALX Now reports that local realtor Julie Robben Linebery has been selected by the Alexandria Republican City Committee to be the GOP candidate to compete in the Jan. 10 special election. According to ALX Now, Lineberry was the only application to run in a now cancelled special party caucus type event initially called to select the GOP nominees.

It couldn’t immediately be determined if an independent or other party candidate planned to run in the special election.  

Bennett-Parker is considered the strong favorite to win the Feb. 10 special election in the heavily Democratic 39th District, where Democrat Ebbin has served as senator since 2012. 

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Congress

Van Hollen speaks at ‘ICE Out for Good’ protest in D.C.

ICE agent killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Jan. 7

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U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) speaks at the 'ICE Out for Good' rally in D.C. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is among those who spoke at an “ICE Out for Good” protest that took place outside U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s headquarters in D.C. on Tuesday.

The protest took place six days after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis.

Good left behind her wife and three children.

(Video by Michael K. Lavers)

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