During his first visit to the State Department February 4, President Joe Biden wasted no time in making clear that global LGBTQI+ rights would be front and center of his foreign policy agenda.
Biden, accompanied by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, announced in his address to the agency's staff a memorandum on advancing the rights of LGBTQI+ people.
The memorandum, issued later the same evening, unequivocally stated that, "it shall be the policy of the United States to pursue an end to violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics, and to lead by the power of our example in the cause of advancing the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons around the world." Outright Action