Kuwait Slams U.S. Embassy for Tweet Supporting Pride Month
The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait has received backlash from the government of Kuwait for a tweet supporting LGBTQ Pride Month. On June 1, the United States Embassy in Kuwait posted a tweet supporting Pride Month.
In the tweet, President Biden is quoted, explaining the need for pride.“All human beings should be treated with respect and dignity,” the quote read, “and should be able to live without fear no matter who they are or whom they love.”This tweet received immediate backlash from the Kuwaiti government.
The country’s foreign ministry released a statement demanding that the embassy not “publish such tweets,” and summoned the Acting Charges d’Affaires James Holtsnider for a meeting, during which it reprimanded the embassy for the tweet, which they argue violates diplomatic protocols.The statement continued, saying that, under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, all nations with embassies in another country agree to “respect the laws and regulations of the receiving state.”Because Kuwait is a Muslim country, where same-sex behavior is criminalized, the Kuwaiti government argues that the pro-LGBTQ tweet shows disrespect for the country’s prevailing customs and culture.
The Quran, the central religious text of Islam, condemns homosexuality outright, and the country’s penal code punishes same-sex relations between two men with up to seven years in prison.As The Hill notes, this is not the first time a nation in the Middle East has criticized the United States’ displays of support for the LGBTQ community.
