Canada, Europeans and Brazil – but not US – issue statement backing LGBT rights

WASHINGTON - The foreign ministries of Canada, Australia, Brazil and a host of European countries issued a statement on June 28 celebrating LGBT rights to coincide with Pride Day.

The United States, which has moved rapidly to dismantle civil rights protections since the election of President Donald Trump, was not among its signatories.

The statement, whose backers also include Spain, Belgium, Colombia, Ireland and other nations, said the countries “are speaking and acting as one to champion the rights of LGBTQI people”, using the abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people.

“At a time when hate speech and hate crimes are on the rise, and in view of efforts to strip LGBTQI people of their rights, we reject all forms of violence, criminalisation, stigmatisation or discrimination, which constitute human rights violations,” the statement said.

It was not immediately clear why the US was absent. Canadian, Australian, Brazilian, Irish and US officials did not immediately return messages seeking comment on the Pride Day statement and Washington’s absence from it.

The US, once a champion of gay rights abroad, has reversed course under Mr Trump, whose administration has rapidly dismantled longstanding civil rights protections for LGBT people and expelled transgender service members from the military.

Defenders of gay rights are concerned that the backsliding will embolden anti-gay movements elsewhere, especially in Africa, where it could worsen an already difficult situation for LGBT people.

Mr Trump’s right-wing allies have tapped anti-LGBT sentiment to shore up their political support.

In Hungary, on June 28, tens of thousands of protesters flouted a law passed in March by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government that allows for a ban on Pride marches.

The demonstrators swarmed Budapest with rainbow-coloured flags in one of the biggest shows of opposition to the Hungarian leader. REUTERS