US Special Envoy Travels to Europe to Promote LGBTQI+ Rights

The Biden administration is undermining traditional principles and values in America

Jessica Stern, U.S. Special Envoy for LGBTQI+ Rights, speaks at the 2022 ILGA World Conference (The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association World Conference) in Long Beach, Calif., on May 2, 2022. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

Actions matter far more than words in determining the Biden administration’s priorities.

The administration is dealing with significant hotspots and thorny issues around the world: an ongoing war and refugee crisis in Eastern Europe resulting in 6.6 million Ukrainian refugees as of May 24; communist Chinese intimidation of Taiwan; Beijing’s gambit to control 10 Pacific Island countries; the pending nuclear giveaway to Iran (and the inevitable responses by the Israelis and Arab countries); the newly proposed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) aimed at countering the Chinese regime’s influence in the region; continuing al-Shabab terrorism in Somalia with the deployment of U.S. special forces troops; a simmering India-China border fight; and the immigration debacle on the wide open U.S. southern border.

And don’t forget trying to contain the leakages associated with the economic boycott of Russia, reevaluating Chinese tariff policy, and countering Russian and Chinese advancements in military and space capabilities, technologies, conventional and nuclear weapons, and force structure.

These seem like large problems that affect the health, welfare, and security of large populations around the world. They are analogous to the burning issues that existed in any past period of recorded human history.

Yet, with all these issues of great importance happening, there was this press release from the U.S. Department of State (DOS) on May 30, Memorial Day, while most Americans were otherwise distracted: “U.S. Special Envoy Jessica Stern will travel to Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Sweden, May 31-June 8. During her visits, Special Envoy Stern will engage with local human rights defenders and civil society representatives regarding the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons globally, with a specific focus on LGBTQI+ refugees from Ukraine.” (“Q” stands for queer while “I” stands for intersex if you haven’t been keeping up on the evolving acronym that stands for sexual dysphoria in all its forms.)

Really? The DOS is pushing what many Americans view as blatant immorality on our allies in Europe, “with a special focus on LGBTQI+ refugees from Ukraine”? And LGBTQI+ rights are somehow a priority for the suffering Ukrainian refugees whose most basic needs are food and shelter? Is this supposed to be an exhibition of world leadership of some kind on the part of the Biden administration? The communist Chinese, Russians, Iranians, and others are laughing themselves silly.

In June 2021, President Joe Biden announced the appointment of Stern as U.S. special envoy to advance the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) persons. Her appointment conveniently did not require confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

Stern’s career has almost entirely been associated with left-wing and LGBTQ activism, as the official State.gov website notes her prior experience, including as a researcher at Human Rights Watch, a Ralph Bunche Fellow at Amnesty International, and a program director at the Center for Constitutional Rights at Human Rights Watch.

Members and supporters of the LGBTQI+ community attend the "Say Gay Anyway" rally in Miami Beach, Fla., on March 13, 2022. Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

Special Envoy Stern’s responsibility is to advance (promote) LGBTQI+ rights worldwide in accordance with Biden’s “Presidential Memorandum on Advancing the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons Around the World.”

That little-known memorandum contains these remarkable words (emphasis added): “That memorandum, for the first time, directed executive departments and agencies (agencies) engaged abroad to ensure that United States diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons everywhere.”

For the first time. Without public debate. Without a congressional vote. Unilaterally by executive decree. A fundamental change in the definition of U.S. values on which Biden himself did not openly campaign in 2020. Just more actions by the administrative state to undermine traditional culture and values by left-wing activists embedded in the federal bureaucracy.

Judeo-Christian values held by the majority of Americans include the concept of tolerance, which involves allowing the existence, occurrence, and/or practice of sin—without condoning and certainly not promoting the sin, which goes against God’s word in Leviticus and Romans. Love the sinner, but hate the sin, as the adage goes. Americans are the most tolerant people on Earth. Still, the LGBTQI+ activists have pushed the federal government into the active promotion of sin around the world—sins against God and mankind in the biblical sense—just as Biden’s memorandum directed.

So much for the concept of “protecting our democracy” when the result is a trashing of fundamental values and principles long-held by generations of Americans in order to appease a tiny minority of left-wing activists.

Onward to the brave new world! Though the DOS faces monumental challenges around the globe, you will be very happy to know that, according to the official State.gov website, “Special Envoy Stern accepts all pronouns.”

Heaven help us!

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.