United Nations
UN Security Council meeting to focus on LGBTQ, intersex rights
Activists from Colombia, Afghanistan expected to speak at March 20 gathering

A meeting that will focus on the integration of LGBTQ and intersex rights into the U.N. Security Council’s work will take place at the United Nations on March 20.
The U.S. Mission to the U.N. is co-sponsoring the meeting along with Albania, Brazil, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Japan, Malta, Switzerland, the U.K. and the LGBTI Core Group, a group of U.N. countries that have pledged to support LGBTQ and intersex rights.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield will convene the meeting.
Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the independent U.N. expert on LGBTQ and intersex issues, is expected to provide a briefing on LGBTQ and intersex rights around the world. María Susana Peralta of Colombia Diversa — an LGBTQ and intersex advocacy group in Colombia that participated in talks between the country’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that led to an LGBTQ-inclusive peace agreement then-President Juan Manuel Santos and then-FARC Commander Rodrigo “Timochenko” Londoño signed in 2016 — and Afghan LGBT Organization Director Artemis Akbary are also expected to take part.
“At this meeting, we are asking countries to make specific commitments to address LGBTI human rights concerns in the Security Council,” a senior administration official on Thursday told reporters during a conference call. “So, for example, we ourselves will commit to ask questions of U.N. officials regarding human rights violations of LGBTQI persons. We will also commit to raise in our national statements at the Security Council any reports or abuses or other concerns unique to the LGBTI community, and when appropriate, we’ll propose language in Security Council resolutions where there are egregious violations.”
“Our view is that we need to build on best practices,” said another senior administration official. “And we need to embrace a midset in the Security Council where, as the Council addresses the crisis of the day, members consistently ask relevant questions such as: What can the Security Council do to increase protection for LGBTQI+ persons in this conflict? Or how can we expand the women, peace and security agenda to include intersectional identities? Or have we included the perspectives of LGBTQI+ persons in a peacekeeping mission or in a peacebuilding process?”

The Security Council’s first-ever LGBTQ-specific meeting, which focused on the Islanmic State’s persecution of LGBTQ Syrians and Iraqis, took place in 2015. Then-U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, who is now director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and then-International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission Executive Director Jessica Stern, who is now the special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights, are among those who participated.
The Security Council in June 2016 formally condemned the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. The U.N. Human Rights Council a few months later appointed Vitit Muntarbhorn as the first independent U.N. expert on LGBTQ and intersex issues. (Madrigal-Borloz succeeded Muntarbhorn in 2018.)
Then-U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Kelly Knight Craft and then-U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell in 2019 hosted an event on the sidelines of a U.N. General Assembly meeting that focused on efforts to decriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations around the world.
President Joe Biden in 2021 signed a memo that committed the U.S. to promoting LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s overall foreign policy. Outgoing State Department spokesperson Ned Price later told the Washington Blade the decriminalization of consensual same-sex sexual relations is one of the White House’s five priorities as it relates to the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights overseas.
Russia one of five permanent Security Council members
The U.S., the U.K., France, China and Russia are the Security Council’s five permanent members. Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates are the 10 non-permanent members.
The United Arab Emirates and Ghana is among the dozens of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized.
Gabon and Mozambique over the last decade have formally decriminalized homosexuality. in 2020.
A Ghanaian lawmaker in 2021 introduced a bill that seeks to criminalize LGBTQ and intersex identity and allyship in the country. Russian President Vladimir Putin late last year signed another so-called propaganda law that specifically targets LGBTQ and intersex people.
Russia on Feb. 24, 2022, launched its war against Ukraine.
One of the two senior administration officials who spoke with reporters on Thursday said they do not know if Russia will participate in the meeting. The other official added it is “impossible to have a conversation about the vulnerabilities of LGBTQI people without looking at what’s been happening in Ukraine.”
“I’m sure that’s going to be a question that people are asking,” they said. “I can imagine that it might be referenced in some of the statements by other missions.”
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers will be at the U.N. on March 20 to cover the meeting.
United Nations
Elise Stefanik pledges to advance ‘America First’ agenda at UN
Senate Foreign Relations Committee held confirmation hearing on Tuesday

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday held U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)’s confirmation hearing to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
The New York Republican did not specifically discuss LGBTQ or intersex rights, but in her opening statement she said President Donald Trump after he nominated her “shared with me that he sees great promise in the United Nations if it focuses on its founding mission of international peace and security.”
“President Trump has long advocated for peace and no wars,” said Stefanik. “He delivered the Abraham Accords (the 2020 agreement in which Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Morocco normalized relations with Israel), the largest step to regional peace in a quarter century.”
“If confirmed, I will work to ensure that our mission to the United Nations serves the interests of the American people and represents President Trump’s America First peace through strength foreign policy,” she added.

Stefanik, 40, has represented New York’s 21st Congressional District since 2015. She later became chair of the House Republican Conference.
Stefanik in 2019 voted for the Equality Act, but she opposed it in 2021. Stefanik in 2022 is among the dozens of Republicans who voted for the Respect for Marriage Act that then-President Joe Biden signed.
Stefanik, among other things, has also been outspoken against antisemitism on college campuses.
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) on Tuesday asked Stefanik about what he described as antisemitism and “anti-Israel bias” at the U.N.
“If you look at the antisemitic rot within the United Nations, there are more resolutions targeting Israel than any other country, any other crisis, combined,” said Stefanik.
“We need to be a voice of moral clarity,” she added.
The hearing took place less than a day after the Senate confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
United Nations
Elise Stefanik nominated to become next UN ambassador
N.Y. Republican voted for Respect for Marriage Act in 2022

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday announced he will nominate U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
“Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,” Trump said in a statement that announced the nomination.
Stefanik, 40, has represented New York’s 21st Congressional District since 2015. She has chaired the House Republican Conference since 2021.
Stefanik in 2019 voted for the Equality Act, but she opposed it in 2021. Stefanik in 2022 is among the dozens of Republicans who voted for the Respect for Marriage Act that President Joe Biden signed.
Stefanik, among other things, has also been outspoken against anti-Semitism on college campuses. She would succeed U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield if the U.S. Senate confirms her.
United Nations
Jill Biden headlines UN LGBTI Core Group event
General Assembly taking place this week in New York

First lady Jill Biden on Monday headlined an LGBTQ and intersex rights event that took place on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
“Our humanity — that simple fact — guarantees us certain rights,” said Biden in her speech at the U.N. LGBTI Core Group event. “It doesn’t matter who you are, where you were born, or who your parents are: Being human is enough.”
The European Union and more than three dozen countries are members of the Core Group, a group of U.N. member states that have pledged to support LGBTQ and intersex rights.
The Netherlands and Argentina, which currently co-chair the Core Group, and Outright International, a global LGBTQ and intersex rights group, organized the event. Jessica Stern, the special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights, introduced the first lady.
Biden in her remarks referenced O’Shae Sibley, a gay man who was stabbed to death in July 2023 while vogueing at a Brooklyn, N.Y., gas station.
She noted the Human Rights Campaign last year “declared a ‘state of emergency’ for LGBTQI people in America, because states across our country passed an unprecedented number of discriminatory laws.” Biden also said consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized in more than 60 countries around the world.
“We’re not going to stand for hate, discrimination, and violence in our own country,” she said. “We won’t stand for it anywhere in the world.”
Biden noted “more countries” in recent years — Singapore, the Cook Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and Barbados, among others — have decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations. Biden also highlighted other countries — Greece, Liechtenstein, Estonia, Cuba, and Chile, among others — in recent years have extended marriage rights to same-sex couples.
“These are big victories — ones that bloom across history,” she said.
“But our triumphs live in the small moments too — moments that would have been unimaginable just a few decades ago: Walking down the street without fear. Co-workers who use your chosen name and pronouns. Kids with two moms or two dads at the playground. Coming together for LGBTQI rights during the United Nations General Assembly,” added Biden.
The promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad has been a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris administration’s overall foreign policy.
Then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2016 spoke at a Core Group event that took place on the sidelines of that year’s U.N. General Assembly. He described the LGBTQ and intersex rights movement as the “civil rights issue of our time.”
“Discrimination against anyone for their sexual orientation and gender is anathema to most basic values,” said Joe Biden.
Other participants in Monday’s event include:
• Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp
• Ricardo Lagorio, Argentina’s permanent representative to the U.N.
• Graeme Reid, the independent U.N. expert on LGBTQ and intersex issues
• U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk
• Former Finnish President Tarja Halonen
• Deputy Luxembourgish Prime Minister Xavier Bettel
• Chilean Social Development and Family Minister Javiera Toro Cáceres
• European Union External Action Service Secretary General Stefano Sannino
• Colombian Multilateral Affairs Vice Minister Kandya Obezo
• French LGBT+ Rights Ambassador-at-Large Jean-Marc Berthon
• Vanessa Dolce de Faria, the high representative for gender issues in the Brazilian Foreign Affairs Ministry
• Philippe Kridelka, Belgium’s permanent representative to the U.N.
• Vanessa Frazier, Malta’s permanent representative to the U.N.
• David Sigurdsson, director of U.N. Affairs in the Icelandic Foreign Affairs Ministry
• Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjödin
• Ugandan activist Gloriah Dhel
• Filipina activist Venus Aves
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