Here's How the Global Respect Act Will Fight Anti-LGBTQ+ Abuse
Under its terms, anyone who has been engaged or complicit in abuses based on a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity would be denied a visa or, if they already have one, see it revoked.
Among the actions it lists are torture or other inhumane treatment; prolonged detention without charges or trial; causing the disappearance of a person through abduction and clandestine detention; or “other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of such persons.”It could be applied to government officials and private citizens alike, and the U.S.
government would keep a list of people involved in such actions. The bill would also task the State Department with assigning one senior official to track violence and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people abroad.Supporters of the legislation note that such violence and discrimination is rampant, as about one-third of the world’s nations have laws that criminalize same-sex relations, and many have other laws or policies that further marginalize LGBTQ+ or intersex people.“In the past years, we have seen a dangerous increase in violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people and their families,” Cicilline, a gay Democrat from Rhode Island, said during floor debate on the bill.
