The Little-Known Origin of 'Gay Rights Are Human Rights''
Enjoy
TWEET:
Dominic Lowell ?@dominiclowell Dec 8
Our champion! Great story from @mirapatel about the origin & impact of @HillaryClinton's Geneva LGBT rights remarks. http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/12/08/little-known-origin-gay-rights-are-human-rights …
The Little-Known Origin of 'Gay Rights Are Human Rights''
http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/12/08/little-known-origin-gay-rights-are-human-rights
Mira Patel served as special advisor on Hillary Clinton’s policy planning staff at the State Department. Four years after Clinton delivered an unforgettable speech at the UN on LGBT equality, Patel provides some fascinating backstory.
By Mira Patel
December 08 2015 5:00 AM EST
Four years ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did what no world leader had ever done before. Standing in the United Nations’ Palais des Nations in Geneva, she boldly proclaimed, “Gay rights are human rights,” laying out for the first time the United States’ strong commitment to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights as a part of all diplomatic and development efforts. This moment marked a monumental policy shift for the U.S. government. The words reverberated throughout the grand hall filled with hundreds of foreign ministers and diplomats who had gathered to celebrate the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Watching Secretary Clinton take the podium, I knew we were on the precipice of history. As her adviser on LGBT and gender issues on the policy planning staff, I sat anxiously in the audience and observed the crowd absorb the secretary’s message. For the next 30 minutes, the secretary offered a powerful and intricate argument for protecting a community that rarely gets favorable attention from world leaders, and she expected everyone to listen. She also signaled to that her declaration that “gay rights are human rights” were more than just a rhetorical play on her 1995 women’s rights speech in Beijing by announcing a historic multimillion-dollar commitment through the State Department’s Global Equality Fund to back up her words with the full force of the U.S. government.
What many people do not know is that Secretary Clinton had said that famous phrase before. A year and a half prior to Geneva, U.S. diplomats gathered for the State Department Pride celebration in a stuffy, windowless auditorium. At this small and unglamorous event, the secretary ran through most of her prepared speech, but then paused and looked up, catching the crowd by surprise. Going off script, she emphatically stated:
“These dangers are not 'gay' issues. This is a human rights issue. Just as I was very proud to say the obvious more than 15 years ago in Beijing that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights, well, let me say today that, Human rights are gay rights and gay rights are human rights, once and for all.” .................
= new reply since forum marked as read
lead to the much deserved title of Madam President 
We will look back and laugh~ 