Council for Global Equality Releases Biden-Harris Transition Paper

The Council today released a new transition policy paper to encourage the incoming Biden-Harris Administration to adopt detailed proposals for each foreign affairs agency to center the rights of LGBTI individuals in U.S. Foreign Policy.  Read our proposal for Centering the Rights of LGBTI Individuals in U.S. Foreign Policy: A Pathway to Effective Global Leadership.

President-elect Biden and his Administration face an array of obstacles that include an ongoing pandemic, sharp divisions along racial, ethnic, and economic lines, and deep erosion in our country’s trust and image abroad.  We applaud the transition for initially prioritizing COVID-19, Economic Recovery, Racial Equality, and Climate Change. These domestic and global obstacles are linked.  A Biden Presidency can unite the country by renewing our commitment to inclusive human rights values at home and abroad. 

In our paper, the Council asks that the foreign policy-related options being framed for the President-elect affirm our country’s respect for, and attachment to, LGBTI- and minority-inclusive human rights.  We urge that human rights be approached through a “whole of government” lens rather than agency-by-agency silos.  We insist that those chosen to lead these policies represent America’s commitment to fairness and equality, in both character and characteristics.  And we call on the Biden Administration to recommit to strengthening coalitions of LGBTI human rights-supportive governments engaged in the work of international organizations.

Read our 2020 transition paper here.