The Trump administration, led by out U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, is launching a campaign to decriminalize homosexuality globally in a bid to put pressure on Iran.
NBC News reports: ‘Narrowly focused on criminalization, rather than broader LGBT issues like same-sex marriage, the campaign was conceived partly in response to the recent reported execution by hanging of a young gay man in Iran, the Trump administration's top geopolitical foe. Grenell, as Trump's envoy to Germany, has been an outspoken Iran critic and has aggressively pressed European nations to abandon the 2015 nuclear deal and re-impose sanctions. But while the Trump administration has had some success in pressuring Iran through stepped-up U.S. penalties, efforts to bring the Europeans along have thus far largely fallen flat. Reframing the conversation on Iran around a human rights issue that enjoys broad support in Europe could help the United States and Europe reach a point of agreement on Iran.'
According to the report, “LGBT activists from across Europe” are heading to Berlin for a Tuesday evening strategy session. The UN, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the U.S. Mission to the E.U., and the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor are expected to be involved.
73 nations still criminalize homosexuality including U.S. allies United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
