U.S. State Department Issues Worldwide Alert Amid Increased Threat Of Violence Against LGBTQ Community

The U.S. State Department issued a worldwide caution security alert regarding the increased potential for foreign terrorist organization-inspired violence against LGBTQ people and events.

“Due to the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests, the Department of State advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution,” the department said in a statement.

The alert precedes the beginning of LGBTQ Pride Month in the U.S., which started on June 1.

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement that people in the LGBTQ community “continue to face insidious forms of stigma and discrimination.”

“Even as more countries make meaningful advancements toward full equality, LGBTQI+ persons continue to be sentenced to death for daring to live their sexual orientation or gender identity, subjected to coercive conversion ‘therapies’ and ‘normalization’ surgeries, discriminated against while receiving health services, restricted from exercising fundamental freedoms and denied the dignity of same-sex partnership and fulfillment of family,” he said.

“We will continue to advocate for the rights of LGBTQI+ persons not just because we have a moral imperative to do so, but because it helps to strengthen democracy, bolster national security and promote global health and economic development,” Blinken concluded.

The remarks were made to mark the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia.

Article by Ava Lombardi