Principles internationalism. Im delighted to be cohosting todays event with the diversity in leadership program. And with the support of our Employee Resource Group on the topic. It is wonderful to see so many of you here in person at csis. I we host todays event for lgbtqai plus lgbtqia people at a moment of great dichotomy. Through the support of advocates, protection of rights around the world is increasing in many places. We have seen bright spot that stand out as a testament to those activists over the year. In december, the Chilean Parliament passed a samesex bill, the 31st country in the world to do so. This month, the thai cabinet endorsed a Civil Partnership bill. Argentina, colombia and the u. S. Government now recognize nonbinary identities. The Kuwait Constitutional Court struck down a law used by Security Forces to enable abusive transgender individuals. But for every bright spot, we see many continued attacks on lgbtqia plus rights, we see what in ghana, and in places like turkey and kazakhstan, and increasing attacks on transgender people, especially transgender women of color in the u. S. We have watched leaders around the world in places like russia, hungary and poland weaponize antilgbtqia rhetoric as a wedge issue to motivate a set of constituents and to create an authoritarian political agenda. And the reference of the russian patriarch in march that gay parades in ukraine were justification for the russian invasion of ukraine was the peak of this political strategy we have to be aware of. Progress even in democratic environments is not irreversible. The black the backsliding israel. The reality of that was brought home with a Supreme Court decision last week, dobbs versus jackson health, with its future implications on lgbtqia rights. We must focus not only on changing the behavior of repressive regimes, but protecting gains made in democracies. It is a component of broader efforts to build a more sustainable, resilient, socratic democratic system. Lgbtq rights are broader barometer for human rights issues. To that end, we have a panel of real experts to talk about how the government and Advocacy Community are thinking about these challenges, what role lgbtqia rights play in the Global Human Rights and democracy agenda, and what in the u. S. It should look like. My colleague served as a Deputy Director of the diversity and International Leadership affairs program, she chairs a think tank Diversity Consortium and is at women of color advancing peace and security. I will turn it over to our panelists. Thank you. Thank you to the Human Rights Initiative for their partnership on this event and for the lgbtq plus leadership in this space. Staff is worked tirelessly, lauren, naz and madeline. Thanks to those of you joining us in person and those of you joining us virtually. It is my honor to be moderator for todays event on placing lgbtqia lgbtqia placing lgbtqia rights at the forefront. Our first speaker is a u. S. Envoy to advance rights of lgbtqia at the u. S. Department of state. Special envoy stern led pride action international, a leading global lgbtqia plus Human Rights Organization as executive director for 10 years. Special envoy stern has been a researcher at Human Rights Watch and add amnesty international, Program Director at center for International Rights and adjunct professor at Columbia University school of international and Public Affairs could stern is the recipient of numerous honors including from attitude magazine, crazy on business, gay city news and metropolitan community church. Special envoy stern, it is an honor to have you here. I will give you the floor for your opening remarks about Agency Reports on advancing the human rights of lgbtqia plus people around the world. Hi, everyone. It is good to be here today on the last day of pride month. I am always inspired by people that are not done celebrating the month and will come to an international an intellectual panel. I am the u. S. Special envoy for the advancement of lgbtqia plus persons. This is a really powerful moment if you are concerned with the safety and wellbeing of lgbtqia plus people are in the world. Marty opened with excellent examples of challenges and progress in this community. I started my day with a call this morning with a roundtable of lgbtqia human rights defenders in turkey, and i started my day that way for a number of reasons but the event had been planned sometime, but we also planned the event because the pad been following developments for the lgbtqia plus community in turkey with some concerns. Since 2016, all pride marches have been and across turkey. And this year was no exception. Somehow, with some fortitude that is almost unimaginable. Unimaginable, lgbtqia plus advocates found a way to celebrate and come together. But this week in istanbul, despite of peoples efforts to honor their community and themselves, their work arrests of over 350 lgbtqia plus people and our allies as they try to honor pride month end all that it means to them. In the past eight years, the total number of people arrested at lgbtqia pride in istanbul was about 100, so this year, they have seen a fourfold increase. Whether youre watching online or in this comfortable room, we have to ask ourselves, what would it cost to have this conversation in another place . And what can we all do to make sure everybody, regardless of the country they are income has the right to talk about human rights, the rule of law, access to health care, education and wellbeing for lgbtqia plus people. I was asked to start by talking about the Biden Administration has done since President Biden released his president ial memorandum on lgbtqia plus influence on Foreign Policy and foreign assistance. My office is working with some incredible people in the audience right now, partnered with the white people to produce a oneyour approach looking at government approach, looking at efforts from usaid, peace corps, department of treasury, department of state and beyond to make sure that we are developing targeted programs to include lgbtqia plus people ate everything we do, and mainstreaming this Vulnerable Group of people in everything from the policy level to the speeches to the behindthescenes conversations. At this is really important. This directive comes from the top. As President Bidens interim National Security strategy states, when we defend the equal rights of all people, women and girls, lgbtqia plus individuals, members of indigenous communities, people with disabilities, people of every ethnic background and religion, we help ensure those rights are protected for our own children in america. In america. I say this to make the point that domestic and human policy are two sides of the same going. We have to fight for human rights in all contexts. The report, which i am sure you have already 126 all 126 pages of it, is really important. It is the first time any government has ever released any report documenting its efforts to include lgbtqia people in policy and foreign assistance. And we have done it to be transparent in our efforts and also, do lay a marker down for ourselves. In essence, to take inventory of the work done in just one year, but also to take stock so that we know the work that still needs to be done. I will give maybe one example from the report. There are lots of examples of progress, there are some examples i think our relatively modest, but if we want to change Foreign Policy, the way we do it is through lots of small initiatives coming together. I will give you one example to show you how important it is to do this work. The peace corps thought, if we want a more diverse set of people in the peace corps, we have to make sure our Recruitment Practices are diverse. So the peace corps had a transgender recruitment date to make sure transgender people are wanted in the peace corps and that if there is a transgender person serving in the peace corps, they are not alone, there is a cohort of people. That is an example of one tangible thing that makes inclusion happen. I will give you an example of something at a policy level that i am proud of. At the park of state, we released the first ever u. S. Passport which has the x gender marker, on april 11 of this year. Have you heard about this . Some are shaking their heads. Now you know and you can tell your friends, but this really matters because the x gender marker means that we recognize more than the binary categories of male and female. X stands for an identified or other and it is a concrete way saying everyone should have access to legal identity before the line that our government is catching up with the lived realities of lgbtqia plus people. There are many more examples, but i will leave it there. Thank you, special envoy started. Special envoy stern. One of the aims of the report is to inspire other governments to support human rights of lgbtqia plus and integrate their needs into policy. What were the goals of this report, and which of those goals do you think of been accomplished . Deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman launched the report and she said this is not a victory lap. This is really important. You can never really finish your work for lgbtqia rights until all related forms of intolerance are eradicated. Our work will never be done. But part of the reason why this report matters so much is because there are seven to countries around the world that still criminalize homosexual status or conduct. It almost becomes background noise, because those of us who follow this work have heard it so many times. When i started doing this work 20 years ago, that number was around 90. In the last six years, Nine Countries have decriminalized, sexual status or conduct, which means the global trend is toward decriminalization. And it is not limited to one kind of country or region. The trend is toward recognition of the fundamental dignity of lgbtqia plus people. And i especially want to say that to an audience of americans because i think we are also very concerned with the backlash and the rollback of our rights, and that a particular clark particular part of the lgbtqia plus community are targeted. But once you have begun the process of recognizing lgbtqia plus are entitled to human rights can be just cant go back. The trajectory of progress is on our side. Thank you. This is a perfect time to welcome jay. The senior lgbtqia plus coordinator at usaid. In his role, he integrates lgbtqia plus people into usaid Inclusive Developments, policies and training and recently, he was engagement and medications advisor at the center for education at usaid. Welcome. I will give you the floor to share opening remarks. Thank you for that introduction. My pronouns already, him, his and i am the usaid lgbtqia plus coordinator. Thank, cis, for hosting this event and putting a spotlight on lgbtqia plus issues in terms of talking about human rights and Inclusive Development of lgbtqia plus persons around the world. I want to go back to martys remarks at the opening and say that we are following recent events that have been very troubling for everyone. I want to make clear, usaid will continue to prioritize partnering with governments, private sector, international and nongovernmental organizations to work to improve health outcomes, including advancing sexual and Reproductive Health and rights. This means our programs and policies are not going to be changing, despite the dobbs decision. We all know this decision not only impacts human rights, womens rights, it includes all who can be pregnant including trans men, nonbinary individuals and other diverse individuals. We have to keep in mind that those rights are being taken away and to be mindful that there are repercussions for all of us around the world. Thankfully, we are part of a communication where lgbtqia plus rights are human rights,. And administrator power, who leads usaid, is committed to advancing lgbtqia plus Inclusive Development. You might be saying, what does that mean . Inclusive development is an Equitable Development approach built on understanding that every individual and community, those from diverse identities and experiences, everyone is instrumental in the trance or make an of their own societies instrumental in the transformation of their own societies. It leads to better outcomes. I am working with my colleagues around the world that are implementing partnerships and hopefully with all of you to be advancing this ambitious vision. Inclusive Development Means integrating lgbtqia plus equities and all the work we are doing at usaid, making usaid more acceptable to lgbtqia plus persons in countries. It means making sure research we are coordinating we are supporting is getting actionable outcomes and also ensures that we as usaid continue to be a leader in this space. In this conversation, we hope to share ways we have been advancing lgbtqia plus development. Thank, jessica and her colleagues at the state department for their herculean effort of getting the interagency report out. We were really proud to be able to profile examples of what lgbtqia plus Inclusive Development looks like. One example is from the Dominican Republic. We have a partnership with the u. N. Development program called lgbtqia in the caribbean. There have been a number of successes, but two of them were highlighted in the report, including an lgbtqia plus survey launched in the Dominican Republic that helps us understand what the Community Looks like, what their needs and challenges are. Another feature is and intersect report that documents the lived realities of people in the caribbean and latin america. Those are examples of the ways we are trying to advance lgbtqia plus Inclusive Development. A core component of this work includes local partners in lgbtqia plus communities. The administration has made advancing localization efforts a priority to advance development. I see these things working handinhand with each other, and that is the best way we can be advancing lgbtqia plus livelihoods, by working closely on the ground with partners in those places. Administrative administrator power says, local voices need to be the center of everything we do. We have to tap into the knowledge of local communities and their lived experiences, otherwise we risk reinforcing systemic equities that are already in place in place. We are advancing efforts on the localization front to understand ways those efforts can positively impact work we are doing to advance lgbtqia plus Inclusive Development. Today, i published a blog on our site that talks about the importance of working with local partners in advancing lgbtqia plus Inclusive Development. That is a couple of highlights. Let me ask a followup question based on the remarks you made and the report. Usaid clearly articulated its efforts to make sure lgbtqia plus people are able to access and benefit from the usaid program. You mentioned administrator power had a statement highlighting important progress usaid has made to Inclusive Development policies and also the power of partnerships, which is at the core of what usaid dies. Can you tell us more about how you arrived to this point, what is contributing to the increased buyer rotation we are seeing. We are seeing . One thing is the incredible staff we have at usaid, in our bureaus here as well as missions around the world. Those lgbtqia plus focal points are at the heart of what we get done. Our work is centered in countries, so we are dependent on local focal points to do that. It is my priority to reengage with those local focal points. In the last administration, it was very difficult to be working on these issues if you were committed to them, but did not have Political Leadership to do that. I happen working to reengage with local staff, Foreign Service officers, giving them a place to come together to talk about the work we are doing, to share lessons learned, to show successes and challenges. That has been one way we have been able to do this. Another way, in terms of focusing not only in certain regions around the world, but focusing around sectors and taking a sector approach to how we are working on lgbtqia plus Inclusive Development. Last year, we put out to guidances for our staff as well as our partners in the education space as well as the resilience and Food Security places. Those guidances provided a spotlight on how you integrate lgbtqia plus persons into those spaces. In the education space, how you take into account the needs of learners, of administrators and teachers who are lgbtqia plus and ensure that they are seeing that they are in an environment that is inclusive of their needs , to advance their work. We are excited we are continuing to build on those guidances. My discussions with donors from the private sector, they are excited to see we are bringing a Development Lens into this space. It is not only talking about human rights needs, but the development angle in terms of advancing lgbtqia plus livelihoods. We are working to create new sectoral guidances in the spaces of humanitarian assistance and Economic Empowerment and in both of those areas, we might talk without advocates around the world. As all of us know from crises happening in afghanistan, ukraine to many other places, that humanitarian assistance crises are often places where lgbtqia plus folks are getting left out. We need to ensure their protection, ensure their needs are being met and similarly with economic power meant Economic Empowerment, we know lgbtqia plus folks do not have the same opportunities to access credit, to be part of formal job sectors, so that is another focus. Thank you. Thank you special envoy stern and jay for bringing the perspective of the administration. Part of the go of this discussion is to bring the perspective of leading practitioners and Civil Society advocates and activists. I am honored to welcome my next guests to the conversation. The doctor is founder of the center for International Development and her career focuses on lgbtqia plus, ethics, Inclusive Development, democracy and governance and human rights. She has project experience in over 40 countries and 15 years in africa, the middle east and asia. Under the obama administration, she served as the first and only openly transgender political appointee at usaid as Senior Advisor on democracy in Subsaharan Africa and lgbtqia plus issues globally. Joining us as well is stephen, a policy advocate who uses hehimhis pronoun said works for an organization dedicated to american policy that is exclusive inclusive of gender identity. Stephen spent time and expertise in movement building, policy and fundraising. He has worked as a leading advisor to the u. N. Population fund and founded a Youth Organization in eastern nigeria to address youth discrimination on Public Health issues including hiv. It is an honor. Stephen, as a leading practitioner of policy advocate, what were your reactions to both the report and the statements made by our guests . Before the conversation started, the opening remarks talked about progress when it comes to lgbtqia plus issues, but also pointed up challenges that are still happening, like the special envoy talking about turkey. Outside of that is issues that lgbtq plus people experience including providing support for lgbtq people around livelihoods and economic participation. Something that was very impressive that the special envoy said was that lgbtq people will have freedom when we do away with homophobia. That is true. But beyond that, to see lgbtq also be part of society in a meaningful way, addressing their wellbeing, moving from just making laws that are welcoming, to ensuring they have the skills to participate fully in the economy. This is important because when you think about covid and the pandemic, we have seen a huge explosion of lgbtq in terms of governance. In many countries were governance were able governments were able to provide forms of assistance, lgbtq folks were hugely excluded. These are important issues. We need to move beyond just words, but actions. J also jay also speaks importantly about localization, the impacts that lgbtq people all over the world are able to experience, from moving from the will to do something, but actually doing something that changes the conversation. Doctor, you are an International Development practitioner and activist, what were your reactions . It is wonderful to be here with this crowd. Thank you for being here today. The special envoy, my friend jessica, comes with real traction. She has been in Civil Society, her voice is drunk, motivational, she is a woman who cares deeply. Wow, what a great person to have at the state department. [laughter] what i would like to see us do to support here, in the context that she has to go out in the world as a representative of our country at the highest level in this space, and advocate for the Human Dignity of all people in the lgbtqia community and beyond, she also is aware that in this country, that is not what is going down right now in many states. There are enormous levels of pushback, deeply concerning trends in this country that really challenge the dignity of people like me, for instance. That is not ok. But she carries our flag. What can we do to support here . One thing we can do is stop thinking about us and them. We are all developing countries. To that end, to be able to bring the strength of Civil Society, to be solidly behind the work she is try to do to represent us all in the world, to bring their energy, drive, knowledge, experience and their care to the work that she is doing. I am very encouraged to have her in this position. At what she said is so important. But we have got to back her. Jay is a friend of mine from years ago, jay is the right person because you all heard what he is just saying this is not just, as important as it is protecting the rights of lgbtqia plus persons, this is about their lives per the is about the quality of their lives. A truly human life. If we get to the place where there is actually a truly human life for any organized group, people get freaked out by me, so be it, they have to have a life. They have to have a job. To have to have access to health care. They have to have access to education. You name it. The stuff they are not getting right now. We havent you urged we have encouraged, for years, lgbtqia plus people to get out and advocate for their rights. People have to be respected as human beings of universal human egg nitty. That is what j universal Human Dignity. That is what jay is talking about, bringing education, health, jobs, etc. Things usaid has been doing forever, lets that to People Like Us all around the world. There is no s m, so i am really glad about that. We need to give them money. [laughter] theres not that many of us in the world. It is lowhanging fruit get there. That would be a big opportunity for usaid and the state department and others to say lets break free the money because we could have a phenomenal impact in transforming the quality of life, a truly human life of people who are lgbtqia and their allies. Thank you, and thank you for highlighting the importance of wellbeing and the importance of allies in the work we need to be doing. Stephen, the council for global equality put out a report card on the human rights of lgbtqia plus people in 2020 for the summative democracy. Can you tell us more about what content to the creation of this report and what you want us to take away from it . The report card provides a concise measurement for the core human rights contractions of lgbtqia people. The idea is to link democracy with a space for lgbtqia. Although the citizen framework is new, it is very critical because it highlights the importance of acknowledging that lgbtqia plus have access and it leads to a parallel conversation around Economic Empowerment and participation. The report card also highlights that marginalized groups in democracy settings suffer greatly, surveys important to Pay Attention to that. For instance, trans folks in a society where they are not recognized would not be able to express their full rights in the electoral system because of the lack of the right identity card. Something that is very important for people to take from the report card is that almost all democracies, including america, have a long way to go in ensuring the full democratic participation of lgbtqia people from a human rights perspective and access perspective. All this is important. You go back to the experience in covid, lgbtqia people suffer the most. You can see this in a lot of reports that came up during the height of the covid challenge. You would also see lgbtqia people increasingly fleeing and democratic societies and confronting new challenges when they come to the board. Thank god the Supreme Court recently removed the romanian mexico policy come about that speaks to some of the challenges when lgbtqia folks leave dangerous situations. They come to america and have these kinds of challenge, when it comes to embracing full human rights enjoyment by lgbtq. By lgbtq people. Dr. , you article you authored an article called ride for everyone and talk about a project in senegal as an example of successful effort around female genital cutting and highlighted the idea of Mutual Respect and mutual dignity. What else in your opinion other than starting a dialogue can Civil Society leaders and International Development leaders do to champion Human Dignity for all . We need to do a lot more than starting a dialogue. There is too much talking out there already. We need to get under the talking to see what we are actually talking about. That is why my organization is saying it is not about human rights only in the sense that human rights are an indicator of universal Human Dignity. To the degree people are actually experiencing universal Human Dignity, it is going to be made manifest in the way others allow them to lead their lives. We are not talking about changing the dialogue, we are talking about changing a discourse. And a discourse is an exchange of ideas, a way of thinking. What they have done in senegal and eight other countries in west africa is to open the door, not just specifically genital cutting. That is not where she started she started with a conversation about dignity, with a discourse about dignity. And people locally rose to that discourse, claiming that leadership for themselves. And by natural progression, what were some of the Biggest Challenges to the experience of Human Dignity in senegal . They said no genital cutting. They got there around our own, not because molly said so. We need to change the way we think, and we are doing that to some extent. I want to do a shout out to chorus international, a faith and fund organization. One of the challenges for our international Civil Society and development aces Development Spaces that are on board now with equity and inclusion, but mostly only for their offices here. But they cant do that for those field offices, come on, that is criminalized there. [laughter] dont talk to me about that. It is not in the budget. I have heard that way too many times. Course International Chorus international is saying no, we have to have consistencies. We cant have two sets of moral standards, here and they are. We cant have it instantly. We have to be pragmatic and moving that direction. That is really strong leadership. I am looking for that kind of leadership in Civil Society here to support leadership in Civil Society around the world. It is absolutely possible. I am looking for more money and looking for people to get behind this in a really serious way. And to have a discourse with an exchange of thinking and ideas. That is a place for human rights. But lets focus deeper, lets focus on what drives change. What drives change is a space where we can talk about things beyond human rights like authenticity, care, compassion, love. What a remarkable example that lesbian, gay and bisexual people bring, and a lot of trans people, about love. Human rights doesnt usually have space for that, but moral principles of dignity do. We can talk about love, authenticity, compassion, care, empathy, all those powerful things that drive change. That is what i am hoping to see us move towards. Thank you. Thank you for highlighting that shared language of empathy, love and dignity. As we have seen here in the report, the administration has made significant strides in its commitment to uplifting and protecting the lgbtqia plus community. Special envoy stern, you mentioned we have a lot more to go. What steps should be taken to ensure this commitment is turned into sustainable action . I listen to i could listen to smart Civil Society leaders like polly and stephen forever. [laughter] they have all the answers. Thank you. I dont have enough time to quote everything you said, but the concept of true human rights is profound. It is really beautiful, and i would be remiss if i didnt say the state Department Also has a robust Grantmaking Program to improve Civil Society around the world. [laughter] if you didnt know, the state department runs the Global Equality Fund. Does anybody know what the Global Equality Fund is . There are so many nerds here. That is amazing. [laughter] it is a Publicprivate Partnership of governments including the u. S. And private actors to support lgbtqia Human Rights Organizations around the world. This is our 10th anniversary and we crossed the 100 too many dollars mark 102 million mark. This raises the questions of what steps we need to take to turn this commitment into action. One thing that lgbtqia human rights defenders need is funding because it costs money to turn on the lights, by a computer, pay staff salaries, and money is not the only answer. You need intersectional analysis. But money can accelerate change and money is not equally distributed to all human rights movements. And lgbtqia plus people are often shut out, whether it is access to funding to support their human rights movements or access to funding to provide fair and equitable livelihoods. I will give you examples of what steps should be taken beyond funding. One is training. One thing thing that appealed to make about csis is the idea that this is a fourrun policy space. I think respect for lgbtqia plus people should be nonpartisan. We should all agree discrimination and violence is wrong,. It doesnt matter who we are talking about. Wrong, full stop. It doesnt matter who we are talking about. Second, we need more leadership. I never miss the opportunity to say, articulate your support for countering discrimination targeting lgbtqia plus people, and all other marginalized groups. It takes just one other person to make space for you to feel like your fault salve, and we certainly need people that are in charge of budget and hiring and have positions in policy to demonstrate that leadership. I will give you one concrete example. My office is spearheading a rulemaking process which is the kind of government work that is incredibly important. The idea behind this rulemaking process is to ban discrimination on any grounds including sexual orientation, gender identity, expression, sex characteristics, but also religion, disability and beyond, in all u. S. Government foreign assistance including services, contracts and grants. There are many things we can do. Thank you. The special envoy mentioned funding and training, other thoughts . I was going back to one thing stephen set around accountability and the report card they created. I want all of you to hold us accountable for what we put into the report. Check with us next year when we are rolling out the new one. [laughter] it should be longer, should have new staff, should have checkmarks of things we accomplished that we said we were going to do, and also to utilize the report card that was put together if you are engaging other governments. Hold them accountable for their actions. That is incredibly important. We could all use more resources that we highlighted in the report that at usaid, our lgbtqia plus portfolio is one of the smallest in the agency pregas, more resources are always helpful, not only for standalone lgbtqia plus programming that we are doing, but also ways we can integrate into other sectors with our colleagues. That leads to the third point. As we are working to accelerate integration into our development work, it reminds me we all have a place where we could be advocating for these issues. Wherever you are, there is probably a way that you can be supporting lgbtqia plus work if you are in the Foreign Policy space. We are doing it from that development side. Jessica and her state Department Colleagues are doing it on the diplomatic side. Civil Society Partners are doing it from the outside, pushing us to be doing more. Our think tank colleagues are writing pieces, doing research which helps ulster arguments around the need for support. Just remember which helps bolster arguments around the need for support. Thank you. Dr. , how can policymakers doctor, how can policymakers and Civil Society leaders work to make sure progress can be may beyond this administration . Policymakers need to stop making policy until they listen. That is the main take away. Civil society here and in developing countries have a lot to a lot to say. We need to unpack these narratives because they are all different, they have different aspirations on priorities and we need to take recognition of that. Like jay and his organization on development need to response with that level of nuance as to what a trans woman need versus what a gay man needs. It is a hard thing to do, but we have to take that apart. We have to listen, learn and understand from people who are lgbtqia plus. Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. I think it is important to see the community as a strong partner, an integral partner, not just a partner. And this is very important for folks here as far as engaging with folks in developing countries. To your point, we are all developing countries, but understanding that lgbtq folks know what the issues arent have to be listened to, they have to be given center stage to talk about the issues, and that those resources actually get to the community, not resources that take out all the money and it doesnt get to the community. We have to understand that. It is not enough to change laws. What we talk about wellbeing, we need to talk about what that really means for lgbtq. Just saying we are not any longer criminalizing it in our country, that doesnt mean it is changing their lives as well. They want to have kids, want to have a decent job, that can be one of the big issues, or to move freely in the country and enjoy the pride of other human beings. Policymakers and partners also need to Pay Attention to not just one singlesided idea when it comes to lgbtq rights. We have time for one question from the live audience. My colleagues in the back of mikes. Show your names and a brief question and hopefully we might get to a second question. My colleague in the back will hand you the mic. My name is sasha, i am with the school of public service, visiting you today. The title of this talk is something along the lines of putting lgbt rights at the center of u. S. Foreign policy. Given the introduction of the talk about how countries around the world, things have been getting worse. Examples were poland and turkey. Both these countries are integral nato allies. I was wondering, how do we balance trying to put lgbtq rights at the center of Foreign Policy while maintaining the unity of nato, which is important right now with the russian invasion . Are there other questions, we can try to take a second one . No one is getting out of here without asking a question. [laughter] my name is Rachel Thomas. I had the honor to work under special envoy stern at the state department and ima navy veteran. We have talked a lot about lgbtqia plus, and i want to talk about the internet the intersectionality of class, age, things of that nature. The u. S. Government as many executive orders talking about racial justice, gender justice, gender identity, and it seems there is still a lot of infighting that happens within the government, unfortunately. Jessica and jay, how do you see a way forward so we are not just siloing these issues after one or two executive orders and mixer we are taking that intersection will approach and make sure we are taking that intersectional approach . Sasha, that was a hard question. [laughter] i was with secretary blinken a weekend a half ago and he was asked a very similar question by a reporter. The way he answered is by saying that lgbtqia are one central component of u. S. Foreign policy, but not the only central component, and that when he looks at competing demands the government grapples with, he takes into account National Security interests, economic interests, access to food and human rights. Where was have to think in a holistic framework if we are going to be Effective Advocates for the human rights of all people. Because lgbtqia also need access to food. Lgbtqia people also need financial sustainable. Where we sometimes get it wrong is that we think there is a iraqi of priorities we think there is an iraqi there is a hierarchy of human rights and lgbtqia are at the bottom. I dont think you can have National Security without having human rights. We need to flip the narrative of thinking the human rights component is the disposable component and movement, as i think everyone was saying, from the margins to the center and say a better way to have stronger economies, stronger nations, is by recognizing and respecting the human rights of all. That is the way forward and that is the world we should be fighting for. On rachels question, Rachel Thomas formidable if you dont know her rachel said sometimes there is Competition Among executive orders, even infighting, the pitting of marginalized groups against each other. I am happy to be in a very special cohort at the state department. We call ourselves the equality ventures. That a quality of ventures the equality avengers. I hope we dont get into copyright trouble with marvel. [laughter] we work with marginalized groups including those targeted on the basis of faith. Instead of printing us against each other as though you can only work on disability or you can work on racism, it makes a marker when youre at it makes a more coherent argument. That is the only way forward. I have much more to say on that. [laughter] sasha, part of the reasoning behind the summit for democracy is to say that yes, this is a good form of government, we should be supporting each other, and also that it is important that we have strong democracies. And the president has said strong democracies are inclusive democracies. All of us have work to do in this space, whether democratic governments, authoritarian governments, authoritarian meeting rights, so we can have disagreements with friends, we can get our friends to do better, we can get our friends to make us do better. We have a lot of work to do. I had an ipad conversation, with other governments who were saying, how can you tell us to be stronger when we see what is happening in the u. S. . It is embarrassing. We go into those conversations saying yes, we know there is a lot of work we need to be doing at home, but also that we have the privilege and resources to be sharing, supporting local advocates in the work they want to be doing to bring about lgbtqia plus a quality. With the equality avengers lgbtqia plus portfolio is housed in a hub that works with marginalized populations, so other teams and coordinators are working on issues with persons of disabilities, indigenous people, children, a number of issues and one thing we are often talking about is what you said, rachel, not necessarily working in a silo, but finding intersectional approaches to this work. Finding ways of speaking to all our colleagues so they under state that they understand when we are going to an event that focuses on lgbtqia issues, but we want them to understand the broad issue of development we are talking about and when we are talking about lgbtqia plus issues, they should also be thinking about what this means for persons of disability, for indigenous people, so that is something we are working on. We are almost out of time. I wish we could continue. On behalf of csis and the International Affairs project, would like to thank each of you for being here and for contributing to this work. Thanks to those of you who are here in person and special thanks to those participating online. It is the last day of pride month, but i hope you will find ways to continue elevating this work all year round. Thank you. We will now transition to the second part of this event i do join us outside for reception hour. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2022] [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2022] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] Library Associations conference. Now i
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