The Secretary of State of the United States of America, Hillary Clinton, in a historic speech at the United Nations in Geneva, dedicated entirely to the protection of LGBT rights around the world, as human rights, remarked that
Gay people are born into every society in the world: being gay is not a Western invention but a human reality
and pleaded for countries who criminalize LGBT people to respect human rights and discard discriminatory laws.
Liberal International has been active on this issue at the UN and has approved overwhelmingly in its latest congresses the fight against intolerance and persecution of LGBT individuals, making it one of the priorities of the new LI human rights committee. LI Deputy president, and former minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Juli Minoves, praised Secretary Clinton’s unambiguous statement:
As liberals, we have put at the forefront of our agenda to defend human rights wherever they are attacked. In many nations, gay people are imprisoned or killed just for who they are. Cultural specificity has been used in the past to justify slavery or the oppression of women. Now many use it to discriminate against LGBT people. Hillary Clinton's address is methodical, reasoned and very compelling and fully coincides with our strong decisions on this issue at the last LI congress
