United Nations
US withdraws from UN LGBTI Core Group
State Department: Decision ‘in line with the president’s recent executive orders’
The U.S. has withdrawn from a group of U.N. member states that have pledged to support LGBTQ and intersex rights.
The U.N. LGBTI Core Group formed in 2008.
Chile and the Netherlands are the current co-chairs. Albania, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Peru, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Timor Leste, the U.K., and Uruguay are members.
The EU, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch and Outright International are observers.
“The overarching goal of the UN LGBTI Core Group in New York is to work within the United Nations framework on ensuring universal respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, specifically lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons, with a particular focus on protection from violence and discrimination,” states the Core Group’s website.
The Core Group also has three specific objectives:
• Raising awareness about LGBTI issues
• Contributing to multilateral work and negotiations at the United Nations
• Seeking common ground and engaging in a spirit of open, respectful and constructive dialogue and cooperation with UN member states and other stakeholders outside the Core Group.
The promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights were a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris administration’s foreign policy.
Former first lady Jill Biden last September spoke at a Core Group event that took place on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Former President Joe Biden was vice president in 2016 when he spoke at a Core Group event that coincided with that year’s U.N. General Assembly.
President Donald Trump since he took office on Jan. 20 has signed a number of executive orders that have targeted the LGBTQ and intersex community. These include the “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” directive that, among other things, bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers.
A directive that Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued bans embassies and other U.S. diplomatic institutions from flying the Pride flag. (Joe Biden in March 2024 signed a government spending bill with a provision that banned Pride flags from flying over U.S. embassies.)
The Associated Press last week reported the Trump-Vance administration has terminated 90 percent of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts. Activists with whom the Washington Blade has spoken in previous weeks say the White House’s decision to freeze nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending has been “catastrophic” for the global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement.
A source told the Blade the U.S. withdrew from the Core Group on Feb. 14. A State Department spokesperson on Saturday confirmed the withdrawal, but did not specify the specific date.
“In line with the president’s recent executive orders, we have withdrawn from the U.N. LGBTI Core Group,” said the spokesperson.
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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