A presidential memorandum from the office of United States (US) President Barack Obama Tuesday, signaled that the US is now in “combat” mode overseas against countries that the US deems to be guilty of violence—such as imposing the death penalty, and discrimination—such as not recognizing same-sex unions, against “lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender” persons, dubbed LGBT for short.
Obama was declaring the US’s intent to embark on “swift and meaningful U.S. responses to human rights abuses of LGBT persons abroad.”
He was, effectively, indicating that his government would “vigorously advance” its goal to promote the rights of those who choose to have same-sex relations, including homosexuals and bisexuals, and those transgender persons who may decide they want to be a man today and a woman tomorrow.
While the memorandum was issued out of the White House in Washington, D.C., it was directed globally, to nations including Belize, who may face repercussions in terms of foreign aid allocations from the US.
“Agencies engaged abroad are directed to strengthen existing efforts to effectively combat the criminalization by foreign governments of LGBT status or conduct and to expand efforts to combat discrimination, homophobia, and intolerance on the basis of LGBT status or conduct,” said Obama.
At least 12 US government agencies are being asked to effect this directive: the Departments of State, the Treasury, Defense, Justice, Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security; as well as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Export Import Bank, and the United States trade representatives.
“Under my administration, agencies engaged abroad have already begun taking action to promote the fundamental human rights of LGBT persons everywhere,” said Obama. ”Our deep commitment to advancing the human rights of all people is strengthened when we as the United States bring our tools to bear to vigorously advance this goal.”
In countries like Saudi Arabia, deemed a US ally, death is the maximum penalty for those guilty of a homosexual act, in accordance with the divine laws accepted in the Islamic faith. Not so in Belize—at least not in practice.
In Belize, unnatural intercourse, including sodomy and bestiality, are deemed criminal offenses, but homosexuals have not been prosecuted in court, except in cases of rape and the molestation of minors. Although the law is on the books to prosecute homosexuals in Belize, it is, effectively, the norm that law enforcement authorities here don’t chase after homosexuals.
This notwithstanding, there is a constitutional challenge before the Supreme Court of Belize, seeking to challenge the criminalization of same-sex relations in Belize—and the group leading the charge, Caleb Orozco’s United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM),has had the attention of the US Government for at least the last two years, having received particular mention in the US State Department’s Annual Human Rights Report on Belize, issued by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
On Tuesday, when Obama made his announcement in the US, Clinton was making her announcement in Geneva, Switzerland, where a same-sex marriage (the legal term there is a “partnership”) can be registered. She echoed Obama’s stance as she declared, on the occasion of a UN gathering, that gay (homosexual) rights transcended national, political and even cultural boundaries, and compared them to those universal rights adopted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Article 16 of that declaration, which addresses marriage, says that “Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion have the right to marry and to found a family….”
Europe has been experiencing a wave of clamoring for the decriminalization of homosexuality, and Britain Prime Minister David Cameron has publicly backed homosexuals in their claim for human rights.
Even so, the legal status of homosexual unions remains broadly dubious. The case of Schalk and Kopf v. Austria, Application no. 30141/04, before the Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights, 24 June 2010, rejected a move to secure a right to same-sex marriage under the European Convention on Human Rights—this despite the fact that some European countries, Canada, and a few US states grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Homosexuals were able to get marriage licenses in Washington DC beginning in 2010—but there is still a bar against it in the vast majority of US states, including California, where a voter-led initiative called Proposition 8 won over a legislative maneuver to permit same-sex unions. This ban on same-sex marriages is still being challenged in court, on appeal, as homosexuals continue to lobby for their marriages to be recognized by the state.
According to information published by the International Lesbian and Gay Association, most Central American countries do not criminalize homosexuality, but there are several Caribbean countries, such as Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica, that are on the same page as Belize with the criminalization of homosexuality.
Now, the US lobby in the Caribbean has evidently begun. On Wednesday, December 7, Paula Uribe, Senior Advisor, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State, moderated a forum, “LGBT Issues in the Caribbean,” featuring three speakers: Charles Radcliffe from the Office of the UN High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR), Victor Madrigal from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and Josh King from the Human Rights Campaign.
At that forum, she commented that the US would not withhold funds—but would study the allegations against human rights abuses before a decision would be made on foreign aid.
So far, Caribbean leaders have been “mum” on Obama’s memo, and all our newspaper’s attempts to get official comment from Government of Belize leaders have proved futile. Prime Minister Dean Barrow is abroad, and Acting Prime Minister Patrick Faber was unavailable. Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega told us he could not comment when we reached him by via phone (at Durban, South Africa), because, he said, he was unaware of Obama’s memo.
Meanwhile, the US-based Family Research Council (FRC), which is founded upon the Judeo-Christian value system (which draws from two of the most predominant faiths in the world), has frowned upon Obama’s foreign policy declaration.
FRC Senior Fellow Peter Sprigg issued a statement saying: “It is startling that President Obama is prepared to throw the full weight and reputation of the United States behind the promotion overseas of the radical ideology of the sexual revolution. If he did the same on other issues, his own liberal allies would undoubtedly accuse him of cultural imperialism. Threats to withhold foreign aid from poor countries unless they conform their laws to the views of Western radicals are unconscionable.”
He added that, “President Obama should increase efforts to defend human rights that are widely recognized, such as religious liberty, rather than appeasing his domestic allies by imposing an alien ideology on other countries.”
Obama’s Tuesday, December 6, 2011 memo states, however, that, “By this memorandum I am directing all agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons.”
He specified a range of actions, including-: strengthen existing efforts to effectively combat the criminalization by foreign governments of LGBT status; conduct and expand efforts to combat discrimination, homophobia, and intolerance on the basis of LGBT status or conduct; enhance ongoing efforts to ensure that LGBT refugees and asylum seekers have equal access to protection and assistance, particularly in countries of first asylum; ensure appropriate training is in place so that relevant Federal Government personnel and key partners can effectively address the protection of LGBT refugees and asylum seekers; enhance ongoing efforts to ensure regular Federal Government engagement with governments, citizens, civil society, and the private sector in order to build respect for the human rights of LGBT persons; and respond to serious incidents that threaten the human rights of LGBT persons abroad.
Multiple agency reports on countries are expected to begin streaming in to US authorities by next June, 2012.
Obama’s memo directed that, “All agencies engaged abroad shall prepare a report within 180 days of the date of this memorandum, and annually thereafter, on their progress toward advancing these initiatives.”
Clinton’s Department of State already addresses the issue in her annual human rights report. We note that for the past two years, 2009 and 2010, she has been highlighting this issue in Belize’s country report.
Clinton clearly has issues with Belize’s law criminalizing homosexuality, and more particularly sodomy.
In her 2010 report on Belize issued in April 2011, Clinton said the following under the subsection – “Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity”:
“The law [of Belize] does not protect sexual orientation or gender identity. The criminal code states that ‘carnal intercourse’ with ‘any person’ ‘against the order of nature’ shall receive a punishment of 10 years’ imprisonment. The law is interpreted as affecting male-to-male sex but not female-to-female sex.”
There was really no evidence of discrimination in her report, which said, “The extent of discrimination based on sexual orientation was difficult to ascertain due to lack of reporting of instances of discrimination through official channels.”
She also mentioned UNIBAM in her report, just as she did the previous year, citing complaints of harassment, but there was no detail on the allegations: “The country’s sole lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy organization, UNIBAM, reported that continuing harassment and insults by the general public and police affected its activities; however, its members were reluctant to file complaints.”
As was stated in the 2009 report, the 2010 report said: “There were no gay pride marches organized in the past year due to UNIBAM membership concerns over the public’s possible adverse reaction.”
Indeed, such marches would be the subject of strong reproach from the Belizean populace, which is widely opposed to the decriminalization of homosexuality in Belize.
Since this issue arose in the public domain, our newspaper has conducted three polls to get a feel of public opinion on the matter:
The first question we threw out was: Do you believe homosexuality laws, including sodomy, should be erased off the law books or repealed, so as to legalize same sex relations and marriages in Belize?
The answer was a resounding NO! 73 % of votes were cast against legislative reform to accommodate homosexuals and same-sex marriages in Belize.
The second poll we did simply asked: Should Belize decriminalize homosexuality? The results were also a resounding NO! The final percentage of NO votes this time was 80%.
In our third poll on the issue—which received a record number of nearly 4,000 responses—we asked: Who do you believe should decide on the decriminalization of homosexuality in Belize? Twenty-two (22) percent of votes were cast in agreement with the position that the courts should determine the matter—but 64%, nearly three times as many votes, were cast in favor of the position that: “Our Creator has already ruled it is criminal.” The rest of votes were for a decision by secret ballot.