Biden Admin Will Have LGBTQ+ Envoy, Allow Pride Flags at Embassies

President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of State says he will appoint an envoy for LGBTQ+ rights and let the U.S. embassies display the LGBTQ+ Pride flag without restrictions. Antony Blinken made the remarks at his confirmation hearing Tuesday, CNN reports. Donald Trump’s administration had left the envoy position vacant — it had been established by President Barack Obama ...

Appointing the envoy is “a matter, I think, of some real urgency,” Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We’ve seen violence directed against LGBTQI people around the world increase,” Blinken said. “We’ve seen, I believe, the highest number of murders of transgender people, particularly women of color, that we’ve seen ever.” That’s definitely true in the U.S., where at least 44 trans people died by violence in 2020, the highest number since records have been kept, and the situation is dire in many other countries as well.

“And so I think the United States playing the role that it should be playing in standing up for and defending the rights of LGBTQI people is something that the department is going to take on and take on immediately,” he added.

He said he will let embassies fly the Pride flag. Obama had issued blanket approval for its display, but the Trump administration had forced embassies to seek permission to fly it on official flagpoles, and most requests for permission were denied.

https://www.advocate.com/politics/2021/1/22/biden-admin-will-have-lgbtq-envoy-allow-pride-flags-embassies