Good afternoon, welcome to the center for international studies. Im the director of the Human Rights Initiative im delighted to be cohosting todays event with the diversity in Leadership InternationalAffairs Program here at c it and the support of our Employee Resource Group on this topic. It is one difficult to see so many people in person in the Building Back at csis. We also welcome those who are joining us via the livestream. We host todays event on the advancement of the rights of lgbtq i a plus people through u. S. Foreign policy at an interesting moment. A moment of great dichotomy. Through the inference of advocates and the support of governments, protection of rights around the world is increasing in many places. We have seen many bright spots that stand out as a testament to efforts by those advocates and activists over the past year. In december, parliament overwhelmingly passed a samesex marriage bill. The 31st country in the world to do so. Just this month, the cabinet endorsed a significant Civil Partnership bill. Argentina and columbia and u. S. Federal government now recognized binary identities in the federal and national ideas. Kuwaits Constitutional Court recently struck down a law that had been used by Security Forces to enable the abuse of transgender individuals. But for every bright spot we see many continued attacks on l g b t q rights. We see the ones in ghana to pass oppressive we see renewed attacks on activists in place like turkey and kazakhstan. And an increase on transgender people, especially women of color here in the united states. We have also watched leaders around the world in places like russia, hungary, and poland weaponize and key rhetoric. As a wedge issue to motivate and activate a specific set of constituents and to feed and thorough therrien political agenda. He referenced by the russian patriarch in march to gave rates in ukraine as a justification for the russian invasion of ukraine was the peak of this kind of particular strategy that we have to be aware. A we also know that progress in environments is not universal, backsliding is real and that reality was brought home to us just last week with the u. S. Supreme courts decision in dobbs v. Jackson. With its immediate implications for reproductive rights and its future implications for lgbtqai rights. For us, the question of how we protect these fundamental rights was inevitably be focused, not only on changing the behavior of the most repressive regimes, but protecting the gains that have been made in democracies as well. As an internal proponent of our broader efforts to build sustainable democratic systems. Lgbtqai plus rights are in many ways the bellwether for broader human rights and democracy issues. And so, that is why im very excited to then end with a panel of real experts to talk about how the u. S. Government and the Advocacy Community are thinking about the challenges. What role lgbtqai plus rights play in the Global Human Rights and democracy agenda, and what the road ahead for Foreign Policy should look like. Here to facilitate that discussion is my colleague, who serves as the Deputy Director of cias International Affairs program. She also chairs the thinking diversity and is programming director for the cross the pond initiative, advancing conflict transformation. We are thrilled to have our panelists here today, i will turn it over to her to facilitate that conversation. Thank you so much. Thank you to the Human Rights Initiative and our partnership on this event, and to the lgbtqai plus for their leadership in the space. I would think the staff who has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this happen. Lauren and madeleine, thank you all. Welcome and thanks to those of you joining us virtually. It is my honor to be your moderator for todays event on placing lgbtqai plus rights at the center for u. S. Foreign policy. To kick off todays event, im delighted to introduce a special envoys. Jessica uses all pronouns and is the u. S. Special envoy to advance the human rights of lgbtqai plus persons at the u. S. Department of state. Prior to joining the state department, special envoy led Action International in leading global lgbtqai Human Rights Organization as its executive director for ten years. Special envoy has been a researcher, at amnesty international, a Program Director at the center for constitutional rights, and a associate professor at Columbia University school of international and public affairs. She is the recipient of numerous honors, including from attitude magazine, new york business, gay city news, and the metropolitan community church. Special envoy, it is an honor to have you here, i will give you the floor for your opening remarks and sharing with the audience the First Ever Agency report on advancing the human rights of lgbtqai persons around the world. Thank you so much. And thank you for the wonderful opening. Hi everyone, it is really good to be here today. On the last day of pride month. Im always inspired by people who are not done celebrating the month and will come to an intellectual panel rather than just the pride marches. As she said, and the special envoy for the end advancement of persons. This is a really powerful moment if you are concerned with the safety and wellbeing of lgbtqai plus people around the world. Marty opened with some excellent examples of progress and challenges for this community. I started my day with a call this morning with a roundtable of lgbtqai human rights defenders in turkey. I started my day that way for a number of reasons, the event had been planned for sometime but we also plan the event because we have been following the development for the lgbtqai community in turkey with some concern. You may be aware that since 2016 all pride marches have been banned across turkey. This year was no exception. Somehow, some fortitude that is almost unimaginable, lgbtqai activists found ways to celebrate the protest and come together. But this week in instant poll, in spite of peoples very careful efforts to honor their committee and themselves, there were arrests of over 250 lgbtqai plus people and their allies as they try to honor pride month. In the past eight years the total number of people arrested at lgbtqai prides in december was around 100. This year theyve seen a increase. I think when we hear in the space like this, whether we are watching online or sitting in this comfortable room, we have to ask ourselves what would it cost to have this conversation in another place. What can we all do to make sure that everybody, regardless of the country therein, has the cad 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.