Sen. Leahy Calls For More Aggressive Policy Against Countries That Violate LGBT Rights

[xchrom]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/miriamelder/sen-leahy-calls-for-more-aggressive-policy-against-countries



HRC’s Chad Griffin sits between fund managers Paul Singer and Daniel Loeb at an event on LGBT rights on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Mariah Summers

DAVOS, Switzerland — Sen. Patrick Leahy said on Thursday that he would seek to find a way to bar U.S. aid to countries that adopt laws restricting LGBT rights.

“I think that we have to explore our foreign policy with countries that have these horrible laws.” Leahy, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, told a gathering of billionaires, officials and activists at an event run in parallel with the World Economic Forum in Davos. “As one who handles the foreign aid in our Senate, this is going to become increasingly on my radar of how we look at foreign aid in countries that violate human rights this way.”

Speaking to BuzzFeed after the event, Leahy said he saw an initiative in line with the 1997 Leahy Law, which prevents the State and Defense Departments from from providing military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights, and said he would seek to target “countries that openly violate the rights of gays and lesbians.” “This will take a while,” he added.

Leahy, as well as Sen. Claire McCaskill, attended an early morning event hosted by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and hedge fund managers Paul Singer and Daniel Loeb, who recently announced a new initiative in international LGBT rights advocacy. Event organizers said the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos had declined to host the LGBT event; the main gathering in Davos this year features guests like Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who recently blessed the world’s most repressive law restricting LGBT rights.

[dbackjon]

1. good - now we need ALL Democratic Senators and the President to sign on