“Promoting and protecting the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons is a U.S. foreign policy priority,” read the State Department statement that accompanied the report.
The report opens a window into how the U.S. government, under the Biden administration, is specifically leveraging foreign aid programs and its influence with international financial institutions and the United Nations to pressure countries into embracing and disseminating its favored LGBTQI+ policies.
The Department of State alone, the report notes, over the last five years has authorized more than $3.2 million in small grants to “116 LGBTQI+ organizations in 73 countries.” The report indicates that USAID, meanwhile, has dedicated “more than $7 million to support activities at USAID missions that integrate LGBTQI+ equities” and “leveraged more than $11 million from private philanthropy to advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons.”
As part of the report the Peace Corps, for its part, pointed to its celebration of “Pride events at headquarters and posts” and commitment to “fostering opportunities among the LGBTQI+ community to serve abroad.”
The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), meanwhile, touted that in fiscal year 2023 it served 799,000 “men who have sex with men (MSM)” and “more than 85,000 transgender persons in more than 50 countries.”
Related efforts cited in the report include new U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and agreement rules that “include protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression.” The State Department also indicated it is developing similar rules related to department-funded foreign assistance.