America’s Global Campaign for Gay Rights; New York Times, 5/26/16

Ernesto Londono, New York Times; America’s Global Campaign for Gay Rights:

"When President Bill Clinton signed an executive order in 1995 barring the government from denying security clearances solely on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation, the Family Research Council warned that “in all healthy societies, homosexuality is recognized as a pathology with very serious implications for a person’s behavior.” In 1999, when Mr. Clinton announced the first nomination of an openly gay person for an ambassadorship, then-Senator Chuck Hagel questioned whether an “openly, aggressively gay” diplomat could “do an effective job.”

Today, Mr. Berry, the State Department’s first envoy for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people, draws on that history often as he makes the case abroad that societies can and should become more inclusive...

In 2011, the United States established the Global Equality Fund, a private-public initiative to support gay rights advocates around the world. Since then, through the fund, the government has spent $30 million to expand access to health care, legal reforms and police education abroad. The State Department’s annual human rights report recently began including a section on the state of L.G.B.T. rights in each country.

Advocates have made notable strides around the world since 2011."