Rep. Lowenthal's International Human Rights Defense Act calls on the State Department to continue its efforts to defend the human rights of LGBTQI people internationally. Specifically, this bill would require the State Department to prevent and respond to discrimination and violence against the LGBTQI community, devise a global strategy to address discrimination against the LGBTQI community, coordinate with local advocacy groups, governments, multilateral organizations, and the private sector, to promote international LGBTQI human rights, create the permanent position of “Special Envoy on the Human Rights of LGBTI People” in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, in the Department of State, which will be responsible for coordinating the efforts of all federal programs to defend the human rights of the LGBTQI community internationally, and continue to include a section on the LGBTQI international human rights in the annual State Department Report on Human Rights.
