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 Yorkās 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.
āElise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter,ā 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 ā that simple fact ā guarantees us certain rights,” said Biden in her speech at the U.N. LGBTI Core Group event. “It doesnāt 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.
“Weāre not going to stand for hate, discrimination, and violence in our own country,” she said. “We wonāt stand for it anywhere in the world.”
Biden noted “more countries” in recent years ā Singapore, the Cook Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and Barbados, among others ā have decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations. Biden also highlighted other countries ā Greece, Liechtenstein, Estonia, Cuba, and Chile, among others ā in recent years have extended marriage rights to same-sex couples.
“These are big victories ā ones that bloom across history,” she said.
“But our triumphs live in the small moments too ā 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.”
āDiscrimination against anyone for their sexual orientation and gender is anathema to most basic values,ā said Joe Biden.
Other participants in Monday’s event include:
ā¢ Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp
ā¢ Ricardo Lagorio, Argentina’s permanent representative to the U.N.
ā¢ Graeme Reid, the independent U.N. expert on LGBTQ and intersex issues
ā¢ U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker TĆ¼rk
ā¢ Former Finnish President Tarja Halonen
ā¢ Deputy Luxembourgish Prime Minister Xavier Bettel
ā¢ Chilean Social Development and Family Minister Javiera Toro CĆ”ceres
ā¢ European Union External Action Service Secretary General Stefano Sannino
ā¢ Colombian Multilateral Affairs Vice Minister Kandya Obezo
ā¢ French LGBT+ Rights Ambassador-at-Large Jean-Marc Berthon
ā¢ Vanessa Dolce de Faria, the high representative for gender issues in the Brazilian Foreign Affairs Ministry
ā¢ Philippe Kridelka, Belgium’s permanent representative to the U.N.
ā¢ Vanessa Frazier, Malta’s permanent representative to the U.N.
ā¢ David Sigurdsson, director of U.N. Affairs in the Icelandic Foreign Affairs Ministry
ā¢ Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjƶdin
ā¢ Ugandan activist Gloriah Dhel
ā¢ Filipina activist Venus Aves
United Nations
UN officials reiterate calls for countries to decriminalize homosexuality
Volker TĆ¼rk and Winnie Byanyima issued statement before global AIDS conference

The U.N. human rights chief and UNAIDS’s executive director have reiterated their calls for countries to decriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations.
“Laws criminalizing LGBTQ+ people must be consigned to history,” said Volker TĆ¼rk and Winnie Byanyima in a statement they released on July 19.
The 25th International AIDS Conference began in Munich on Monday.
The statement notes Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Bhutan, Botswana, the Cook Islands, Dominica, Gabon, India, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Palau, St. Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles, Singapore, and Trinidad and Tobago over the last decade have repealed laws that criminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations.
The Namibian High Court on June 21 struck down the country’s Apartheid-era sodomy laws.
Dominica’s High Court of Justice in April ruled provisions of the country’s Sexual Offenses Act that criminalized anal sex and “gross indecency” were unconstitutional. Justice Kimberly Cenac-Phulgence in the decision said “the laws commonly known as buggery and gross indecency laws, contravenes the constitution of the Commonwealth of Dominica, namely the right to liberty, freedom of expression, and protection of personal privacy.ā
Burkina Faso’s military government earlier this month said it plans to criminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations in the country. Ugandan activists continue to challenge their country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act.
Activists maintain criminalization laws harm people with HIV/AIDS, among other groups. TĆ¼rk and Byanyima in their statement say these statutes “harm public health.”
“Criminalization of LGBTQ+ people generates justified fear amongst people who need access to health services, and amongst the frontline workers who provide those services,” they said.
“InĀ criminalizing countries, there is decreased provision and uptake of HIV prevention services, and decreased uptake of HIV careĀ and treatment services,” added TĆ¼rk and Byanyima.
They conclude the “decriminalization ofĀ LGBTQ+ peopleĀ is vital for protecting everyoneās human rightsĀ andĀ everyoneās health.”
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