For well over a decade, June has been celebrated as LGBT Pride month in cities across the United States, marking the anniversary of the Stonewall riots, a major milestone of the LGBT rights movement. While we have lots to celebrate in the U.S. this year, there is much to worry about when it comes to the rights of LGBT people in some other parts of the world. Thankfully, we have an opportunity this month to make a difference by supporting a critical new bill that will focus U.S. foreign policy on promoting LGBT rights worldwide.
This year, the United States made great strides in the march toward equality for LGBT people. Our country was founded on the principle that all people are created equal—and now, thanks to the hard work of activists, LGBT individuals are coming closer than ever to achieving the equal rights that flow from that principle. While full equality for all still hovers just out of reach, it is a goal that now seems achievable with the fall of the Defense of Marriage Act last year, the passage of marriage equality laws in 19 states, and new rules set forth by the federal government and the national trend revealed by recent polls, that most Americans now support equal rights for LGBT people.
While we celebrate this remarkable progress, it is important to recognize that LGBT individuals are still suffering and dying because of discriminatory laws and practices. Here in the U.S., stigma still drives too many gay teens to suicide; institutions and families ostracize LGBT people from their ranks; and many states continue to deny basic civil rights.
But beyond our borders, the situation is even more grave. Same-sex sexual activity is illegal in 77 countries—and punishable by death in five. In many countries, the situation is growing progressively worse: just this past February, Ugandan President Museveni signed into law the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which punishes same-sex sexual behavior with life in prison and criminalizes funding organizations that provide services like healthcare to LGBT people or promote their human rights.
We in the Jewish community are particularly sensitive to prejudice encoded in law. We recognize the devastating and deadly effects of bigotry—especially when it becomes a tool of the state. As Jews, we feel a unique outrage when a government implements laws that punish a person because of his or her identity. It is imperative that we act on that outrage, and stand with our brothers and sisters around the world who are persecuted today because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
Fittingly in honor of LGBT Pride Month, we have an opportunity to take action to do something about this injustice. Recently, U.S. Sen. Edward Markey ( D-Mass. ) introduced a new bill in the Senate that aims to promote LGBT rights around the world. If it passes, the International Human Rights Defense Act will make preventing and responding to discrimination and violence against the LGBT community a foreign policy priority, and will ensure that our government devises a global strategy to achieve those goals. It will also create the position of "Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBT People" in the State Department, which will be responsible for coordinating the U.S.'s efforts to defend human rights for global LGBT communities.
I believe that this is not just a law, but an ethical imperative. The Hebrew bible teaches that we are all made in the image of God. We are all infinitely precious. No one of us is any better than the other. This radical equality of humanity is also an American principle borne witness to in our Declaration of Independence. "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Social change efforts have led, with great effort, to extraordinary advances in human rights in the United States and around the world—from the end of American slavery to the end of apartheid; from the right of women to vote to laws that protect the rights of laborers, children and refugees. Our recent gains in the fight for marriage equality in this country are the latest milestones in this ongoing struggle for equal rights for all. But there is still so much work to be done, especially for our LGBT brothers and sisters beyond our borders.
That is why I support the International Human Rights Defense Act, as part of American Jewish World Service's "We Believe "campaign, which seeks to act on our belief that no one should be hated for who they are or whom they love.
During June, as we rejoice in the great strides made in LGBT rights in the United States and celebrate the impact LGBT individuals have made in making our world a better place for all, please take a few minutes to call or write to your senators and urge them to cosponsor the International Human Rights Defense Act. With persistence and vision we can make a difference and bring true equality for all closer to our grasp.
Rabbi Max Weiss is the rabbi of Oak Park Temple B'nai Abraham Zion, in Oak Park, Illinois.
