Statement of policy

It is the policy of the United States— (1) to take effective action to prevent and respond to discrimination and violence against all people on any basis internationally, including sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics, and that human rights policy includes attention to criminalization, violence, and other discrimination against LGBTQI+ people; (2) to systematically integrate and coordinate into United States foreign policy efforts to prevent and respond to criminalization, discrimination, and violence against LGBTQI+ people internationally; (3) to support and build local capacity in countries around the world, including of governments at all levels and nongovernmental organizations, to prevent and respond to criminalization, discrimination, and violence against LGBTQI+ people internationally; (4) to consult, cooperate, coordinate, and collaborate with a wide variety of nongovernmental partners, including faith-based organizations and LGBTQI+-led organizations, with demonstrated experience in preventing and responding to criminalization, discrimination, and violence against LGBTQI+ people internationally; (5) to employ a multisectoral approach to preventing and responding to criminalization, discrimination, and violence against LGBTQI+ people internationally, including activities in the economic, education, health, nutrition, legal, and judicial sectors; (6) to work at all levels, from the individual to the family, community, local, national, and international levels, to prevent and respond to criminalization, discrimination, and violence against LGBTQI+ people internationally; (7) to enhance training by United States personnel of professional foreign military and police forces and judicial officials to include appropriate and thorough LGBTQI+-specific instruction on preventing and responding to criminalization, discrimination, and violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics; (8) to engage non-LGBTQI+ people as allies and partners, as an essential element of making sustained reductions in criminalization, discrimination, and violence against LGBTQI+ people internationally; (9) to require that all recipients of Federal funding, including all contractors, grants, and cooperative agreements for both acquisition and assistance, establish appropriate nondiscrimination policies that are inclusive of sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics, among other characteristics and protected statuses, and take effective measures to ensure the protection and safety of employed and contracted staff, as well as the protection of the program beneficiaries; (10) to exert sustained international leadership, including in bilateral and multilateral fora, to prevent and respond to criminalization, discrimination, and violence against LGBTQI+ people internationally; (11) to ensure that international efforts to combat HIV/AIDS take all appropriate measures to support at-risk communities, including LGBTQI+ people, and to create enabling legal environments for these communities; (12) to work with governments and nongovernmental organizations around the world to develop and implement regional strategies to decriminalize homosexuality and to counteract other restrictions on the human rights of LGBTQI+ people, including restrictions on LGBTQI+ organizations and so-called LGBTQI+ propaganda laws; and (13) to ensure that individuals who have a well-founded fear of persecution on account of being LGBTQI+ or supporting LGBTQI+ rights have the opportunity to seek protection in the United States.