What This Bill Does
This bill creates a permanent Special Envoy position in the State Department to focus on human rights issues for LGBTQI+ people around the world. The Special Envoy will develop strategies, coordinate U.S. government efforts, and represent the United States in international discussions about discrimination and violence against LGBTQI+ people globally.
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Who It Affects
- The U.S. State Department (which must establish and fund the position)
- The U.S. Agency for International Development
- Foreign governments and non-governmental organizations working on LGBTQI+ rights
- LGBTQI+ people worldwide facing discrimination, violence, or criminalization
- Congressional committees receiving reports on progress
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Key Provisions
- The President appoints a Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Peoples in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor who reports to the Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. The President may appoint this person at the rank of Ambassador with Senate approval. (Sec. 4(a))
- Within 180 days of this law taking effect and annually for five years after, the Special Envoy must develop a global strategy to prevent and respond to criminalization, discrimination, and violence against LGBTQI+ people internationally and submit it to Congress. (Sec. 4(e))
- The Special Envoy serves as the principal advisor to the Secretary of State on LGBTQI+ human rights and must direct State Department activities, policies, programs, and funding related to LGBTQI+ equality and human rights internationally across all State Department bureaus and offices. (Sec. 4(c))
- Within 180 days and annually thereafter, the Special Envoy must brief Congress on the status of LGBTQI+ human rights internationally and describe U.S. government programs and strategies to address criminalization, discrimination, and violence against LGBTQI+ people. (Sec. 4(d))
- The State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development are authorized to provide assistance for preventing and responding to criminalization, discrimination, and violence against LGBTQI+ people, including developing leadership programs for international LGBTQI+ activists, supporting foreign law enforcement and judicial training, and enhancing health sector capacity to combat HIV/AIDS in LGBTQI+ communities. (Sec. 6)
- Annual country reports on human rights practices must now include information about criminalization, discrimination, and violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics in each country, including identification of countries with laws that criminalize or discriminate based on these factors. (Sec. 5)
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What Changes
If this becomes law, the State Department will establish a new permanent position focused solely on LGBTQI+ human rights issues globally. The federal government will be required to develop written strategies to address LGBTQI+ discrimination and violence internationally and report progress to Congress annually. Country human rights reports will now specifically document discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics. The State Department and international development agencies gain clear authority to fund programs protecting LGBTQI+ people and advancing their rights worldwide.
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Important Definitions
- **Gender Identity**: The gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the sex they were assigned at birth. (Sec. 7)
- **Intersex**: Individuals born with sex characteristics (including genitals, gonads, or chromosome patterns) that differ from typical male or female bodies. It is an umbrella term for a wide range of natural bodily variations. (Sec. 7)
- **LGBTQI+**: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex. (Sec. 7)
- **Sexual Orientation**: Actual or perceived homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality. (Sec. 7)
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Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1833
To establish in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of
the Department of State a Special Envoy for the Human Rights of
LGBTQI+ Peoples, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 28, 2023
Mr. ROBERT GARCIA of California (for himself, Ms. JACOBS, Ms. CROCKETT,
Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. NORTON, Mr.
AUCHINCLOSS, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, Ms. SCANLON,
Mr. KILMER, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr.
ALLRED, Mr. CARBAJAL, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms.
SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. JAYAPAL,
Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. PORTER, Mr. GREEN of
Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr.
NEGUSE, Ms. BROWN, Mr. CASTEN, Mr. COSTA, Mr. POCAN, Ms. WIL-
SON of Florida, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. COHEN, Mr. VARGAS,
Mr. TORRES of New York, Mr. IVEY, Mr. SCHIFF, Ms. SALINAS, Ms. DA-
VIDS of Kansas, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. KEATING, Mr.
TRONE, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. MENG, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Ms. TLAIB, Ms.
STEVENS, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania, Mr. LARSON of
Connecticut, Mr. SORENSEN, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. FROST, Ms. CRAIG,
Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. BONAMICI, and Ms.
LOFGREN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To establish in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights,
and Labor of the Department of State a Special Envoy
for the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Peoples, and for
other purposes.
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•HR 1833 IH
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘International Human
4
Rights Defense Act of 2023’’.
5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
6
Congress makes the following findings:
7
(1) Around the world, LGBTQI+ people face
8
violence, stigma, and discrimination based on their
9
sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex character-
10
istics.
11
(2) 67 countries have national laws that crim-
12
inalize same-sex relations and at least 42 United
13
Nations member states have legal barriers for free-
14
dom of expression on issues related to sexual and
15
gender diversity. That is equal to roughly 35 percent
16
of United Nations member states.
17
(3) 11 countries have jurisdictions in which the
18
death penalty can be imposed for private, consensual
19
same-sex sexual activity.
20
(4) Despite recent progress made toward de-
21
criminalization, marriage equality, and legal gender
22
recognition, several countries have introduced anti-
23
LGBTQI+ pieces of legislation that would further
24
criminalize or stigmatize LGBTQI+ peoples. This
25
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•HR 1833 IH
includes a draconian law under review in Ghana that
1
would outlaw LGBTQI+ relationships or identities,
2
as well as actions by community allies, and bills that
3
ban so-called LGBTQI+ ‘‘propaganda,’’ such as
4
those in Russia and Hungary.
5
(5) In anti-LGBTQI+ prosecutions, law en-
6
forcement officials, working in tandem with medical
7
personnel, use the forensically discredited practice of
8
forced anal exams to try to prove same-sex sexual
9
activity or otherwise to torture or intimidate detain-
10
ees. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Tor-
11
ture has described forced anal examinations as a
12
form of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading
13
treatment and the United Nations Office of the
14
High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a re-
15
port in 2015 calling for governments to ban the
16
practice. Human Rights Watch has documented sev-
17
eral cases in which forced anal examinations have
18
been used to sentence individuals for same-sex sex-
19
ual conduct, including in Uzbekistan and Egypt.
20
(6) The closing of civil society space, particu-
21
larly with the increased passage or enforcement of
22
laws that prevent the registration or operations of
23
non-governmental
organizations,
discriminates
24
against LGBTQI+ human rights defenders and is a
25
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•HR 1833 IH
violation of freedom of association. This includes the
1
wrongful closure of Sexual Minorities Uganda
2
(SMUG), a leading non-governmental organization
3
committed to protecting and advancing the human
4
rights of LGBTQI+ individuals in Uganda.
5
(7) Extreme violence and insecurity in El Sal-
6
vador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras has
7
driven LGBTQI+ people to flee their countries of
8
origin to the United States for protection. At the
9
United States border with Mexico, LGBTQI+ asy-
10
lum seekers face additional violence and many have
11
been returned to face persecution in their home
12
countries or in third countries that are not safe.
13
(8) Studies have shown that structural risks in-
14
cluding country-level policies, prosecutions, and legal
15
barriers might contribute to higher HIV prevalence
16
among LGBTQI+ people, especially gay, bisexual,
17
and other men who have sex with men. Decrimi-
18
nalization, decreasing enforcement, and stigma re-
19
duction are necessary to effective control of HIV.
20
(9) The Trans Murder Monitoring Project,
21
which monitors homicides of transgender individuals,
22
documented at least 327 trans and gender-diverse
23
people killed between October 1, 2021, and Sep-
24
tember 30, 2022. Of these cases, 68 percent of all
25
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•HR 1833 IH
of the murders occurred in Latin America and the
1
Caribbean, with 29 percent of the total occurring in
2
Brazil.
3
(10) Intersex people experience prejudice and
4
discrimination, including the common performance
5
of medically unnecessary surgeries without their con-
6
sent or approval, because their bodies do not con-
7
form to other people’s expectations about sex and
8
gender.
9
(11) Violence and discrimination based on sex-
10
ual orientation and gender identity are documented
11
in the Department of State’s annual Country Re-
12
ports on Human Rights Practices. The report cov-
13
ering 2021 continues to show a clear pattern of
14
human rights violations or abuses in every region of
15
the world based on sexual orientation, gender iden-
16
tity, or sex characteristics. These violations or
17
abuses include murder, rape, torture, death threats,
18
extortion, and imprisonment, as well as loss of em-
19
ployment, housing, access to health care, and other
20
forms of societal stigma and discrimination. The re-
21
ports further document LGBTQI+-specific restric-
22
tions on basic freedoms of assembly, press, and
23
speech in every region of the world.
24
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•HR 1833 IH
(12) On December 6, 2011, President Barack
1
Obama released the ‘‘Presidential Memorandum—
2
International Initiatives to Advance the Human
3
Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
4
Persons’’. The memorandum directed all Federal
5
agencies engaged abroad to ensure that United
6
States diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and
7
protect the human rights of LGBTI+ persons.
8
(13) On February 4, 2021, President Joe Biden
9
issued a similar memorandum, the ‘‘Memorandum
10
on Advancing the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay,
11
Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Persons
12
Around the World,’’ to promote and protect the
13
human rights of LGBTQI+ persons and establish
14
that it is the ‘‘policy of the United States to pursue
15
an end to violence and discrimination on the basis
16
of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression,
17
or sex characteristics, and to lead by the power of
18
our example in the cause of advancing the human
19
rights of LGBTQI+ persons around the world’’.
20
(14) On February 23, 2015, Secretary of State
21
John Kerry appointed senior diplomat Randy Berry
22
as the Department of State’s first-ever Special
23
Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons.
24
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•HR 1833 IH
No person was named to that position during the
1
Trump Administration.
2
(15) On June 25, 2021, President Joe Biden
3
announced the appointment of Jessica Stern to serve
4
as the United States Special Envoy to Advance the
5
Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons. She joined
6
the Department of State on September 27, 2021.
7
(16) On June 30, 2016, the United Nations
8
Human Rights Council passed a resolution cospon-
9
sored by the United States that established an Inde-
10
pendent Expert on violence and discrimination based
11
on sexual orientation and gender identity to help
12
monitor and track discrimination and violence expe-
13
rienced by LGBTQI+ persons around the world.
14
(17) In May 2020, the United Nations Inde-
15
pendent Expert on protection against violence and
16
discrimination based on sexual orientation and gen-
17
der identity released a report on so-called ‘‘conver-
18
sion therapy,’’ which is an umbrella term used to de-
19
scribe interventions based on a belief that a person’s
20
sexual orientation or gender identity can and should
21
be changed. The report concluded that such prac-
22
tices represent significant violations of rights to per-
23
sonal autonomy, health, and free expression and are
24
‘‘by their very nature degrading, inhuman and cruel
25
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8
•HR 1833 IH
and create a significant risk of torture’’. The Inde-
1
pendent Expert noted ‘‘the psychological pain and
2
suffering inflicted by practices of ‘conversion ther-
3
apy’ are deep and long-lasting and often exacerbate
4
the risk of suicide,’’ and called for a global ban on
5
conversion therapy.
6
(18) On June 15, 2022, President Joe Biden
7
signed an Executive order in part directing the Sec-
8
retary of State, in collaboration with the Secretary
9
of the Treasury, the Secretary of Health and
10
Human Services, and the Administrator of the
11
United States Agency for International Develop-
12
ment, to develop an action plan to promote an end
13
to so-called ‘‘conversion therapy’’ around the world
14
and ensure that United States foreign assistance
15
dollars do not fund the practice.
16
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
17
It is the policy of the United States—
18
(1) to take effective action to prevent and re-
19
spond to discrimination and violence against all peo-
20
ple on any basis internationally, including sexual ori-
21
entation, gender identity, and sex characteristics,
22
and that human rights policy includes attention to
23
criminalization, violence, and other discrimination
24
against LGBTQI+ people;
25
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•HR 1833 IH
(2) to systematically integrate and coordinate
1
into United States foreign policy efforts to prevent
2
and respond to criminalization, discrimination, and
3
violence against LGBTQI+ people internationally;
4
(3) to support and build local capacity in coun-
5
tries around the world, including of governments at
6
all levels and nongovernmental organizations, to pre-
7
vent and respond to criminalization, discrimination,
8
and violence against LGBTQI+ people internation-
9
ally;
10
(4) to consult, cooperate, coordinate, and col-
11
laborate with a wide variety of nongovernmental
12
partners, including faith-based organizations and
13
LGBTQI+-led organizations, with demonstrated ex-
14
perience in preventing and responding to criminal-
15
ization,
discrimination,
and
violence
against
16
LGBTQI+ people internationally;
17
(5) to employ a multisectoral approach to pre-
18
venting and responding to criminalization, discrimi-
19
nation, and violence against LGBTQI+ people inter-
20
nationally, including activities in the economic, edu-
21
cation, health, nutrition, legal, and judicial sectors;
22
(6) to work at all levels, from the individual to
23
the family, community, local, national, and inter-
24
national levels, to prevent and respond to criminal-
25
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•HR 1833 IH
ization,
discrimination,
and
violence
against
1
LGBTQI+ people internationally;
2
(7) to enhance training by United States per-
3
sonnel of professional foreign military and police
4
forces and judicial officials to include appropriate
5
and thorough LGBTQI+-specific instruction on pre-
6
venting and responding to criminalization, discrimi-
7
nation, and violence based on sexual orientation and
8
gender identity;
9
(8) to engage non-LGBTQI+ people as allies
10
and partners, as an essential element of making sus-
11
tained reductions in criminalization, discrimination,
12
and violence against LGBTQI+ people internation-
13
ally;
14
(9) to require that all Federal contractors and
15
grant recipients awarded a contract or receiving a
16
grant, as the case may be, under an international
17
program of the United States Government establish
18
appropriate policies and take effective measures to
19
ensure the protection and safety of their staff and
20
workplace, including from discrimination and vio-
21
lence directed against LGBTQI+ people and those
22
who provide services to them;
23
(10) to exert sustained international leadership,
24
including in bilateral and multilateral fora, to pre-
25
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•HR 1833 IH
vent and respond to criminalization, discrimination,
1
and violence against LGBTQI+ people internation-
2
ally;
3
(11) to fully implement and expand upon the
4
policies
outlined
in
the
‘‘Presidential
Memo-
5
randum—Advancing the Human Rights of Lesbian,
6
Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex
7
Persons Around the World’’;
8
(12) to ensure that international efforts to com-
9
bat HIV/AIDS take all appropriate measures to sup-
10
port at-risk communities, inclu
[Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]