Family Research Council applauds Trump's new visa policy because, quite simply, it hurts gays

Family Research Council head Tony Perkins applauds how a new Trump policy hurts foreign gay diplomats.

On Tuesday, the Trump Administration initiated a new policy denying visas to same sex partners of foreign diplomats and United Nations officials if the couples aren't married. Some have cried foul over this policy because some of these diplomats come from countries which don't allow gays to marry. But anti-LGBTQ hate group the Family Research Council has applauded the policy for basically the same reason. And specifically because it serves to hurt the LGBTQ community. Some will say that this observation, and the headline of this post, is alarmist and hysterical. However I stand by it. A comparison between the garishly vulgar way FRC president Tony Perkins celebrates this policy compared to how it hurts gay couples (via NPR) proves my point:

Family Research Council:

No sooner had Hillary Clinton taken over as secretary than the White House ordered her to use the agency as a club to beat other nations into submission on sexual politics. Under her leadership -- and, later, Secretary John Kerry's -- the State Department worked, not to advance America's interests, but the interests of the Left's radical social agenda. Obviously, the strategy was for the State Department to force these policies on the international stage and then build pressure on the U.S. to adopt policies like it.

. . . Fortunately, the Trump administration has real respect for other nations' beliefs -- and Secretary Mike Pompeo's agency is proving it. Yesterday, the administration announced a new policy at the State Department that would block diplomatic visas for the same-sex partners of any foreign officials and U.N. employees. As of Monday, couples will have to provide proof of marriage for their significant others to stay in the country after 2018. Right now, experts think that about 10 U.N. employees would be affected by the change.

"Same-sex spouses of U.S. diplomats now enjoy the same rights and benefits as opposite-sex spouses," the U.S. mission wrote in a July 12 note to U.N.-based delegations. "Consistent with [State] Department policy, partners accompanying members of permanent missions or seeking to join the same must generally be married in order to be eligible" for a diplomatic visa.

To most conservatives, it was powerful rebuke of Hillary Clinton's 2009 decision to bypass the law for LGBT partners. And an important one. As it stands, only 12 percent of U.N. member states allow same-sex marriage -- putting the Obama State Department well out of step with the world. Thank goodness for the Trump administration, which has proven time and time again that its focus is religious freedom and human rights for everyone -- not special rights for a select few.

'Trump Administration weaponizes marriage equality to punish gay diplomats, UN officials' & other Tue midday news briefs

The Trump Administration continues to give the LGBTQ community hell.

Trump Administration to Deny Visas to Same-Sex Partners of Diplomats, U.N. Officials - More proof that the religious right pro-Trump mantra "promises made. promises kept." is bullshyte. Trump promised to stand with the LGBTQ community. Apparently he meant he would stand on our backs and stomp us a few times. This policy is being derided as ugly and mean-spirited. The new policy demands that the gay couples be married—even if they're from countries that criminalize gay marriage. What the policy does is use the right to marry passed in America as a weapon against gay diplomats from countries not allowing marriage equality: 

Samantha Power, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, denounced the new policy on Twitter as “needlessly cruel & bigoted.” “State Dept. will no longer let same-sex domestic partners of UN employees get visas unless they are married,” she tweeted, noting that “only 12% of UN member states allow same-sex marriage.”  

Meet The Real Mike Pence - It's not be confirmed but 2 to 1, this policy may have its roots with Vice President Mike Pence, a man who has shown an extreme personal animus against the LGBTQ community. This Human Rights Campaign report proves this. That's okay. Pence's animus will be his downfall.  

The international far-right has a new target: Gender and identity - UGH!  

Anti-LGBTQ activist behind Proposition 8's passage brags about work crafting "gay propaganda" law in Russia - Brian Brown seems to be the Sarah Palin of the anti-LGBTQ industry. He creates nothing positive. He takes up much needed space. But he won't go away. 


Image taken from LGBTQ Nation.