Secretary of State Antony Blinken recognized Pride Month and the courage and resilience of LGBTQI+ persons.
On June 1, he commemorated Pride Month and explained what the Biden administration is doing and has done for the inclusivity of LGBT+ individuals, according to a Department of State news statement.
“Democracy is strongest when it is inclusive – respect for the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons is key to building and maintaining strong and healthy democracies,” Blinken said in a post on Twitter.
Pride Month has been celebrated around the world for more than 50 years, he said in the statement. Pride Month recognizes the diversity and resilience of the LGBT+ community and acknowledges the struggles those individuals continue to go through.
The secretary of state discussed the Stonewall Riots in his statement, which was in response to frequent police raids of LGBT+ clubs and spaces, in particular to the raid on the Stonewall Inn June 28, 1969.
Blinken described how President Biden's Memorandum on Advancing the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons Around the World helps the advancement of human rights in the statement. The State Department updated U.S passport applications to include 'X' as a gender marker option. The Global Equity Fund disbursed more than $100 million to support human rights for LGBT+ people.
Under Secretary of State Urza Zeya posted on Twitter supporting Pride Month focused on the cruelty queer people face in Russia.
Same-sex marriage was banned in Russia in 2020, according to the Boston Review. Dozens of LGBT organizations were added to the federal list of “foreign agents.”
In Vladimir Putin's Feb. 24 speech announcing the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he announced the undermining of the West's "traditional values," including LGBT+ rights, the Boston Review article said.
