Internal State Department emails obtained through a FOIA request show how Biden officials worked to integrate LGBTQI policy priorities into U.S. diplomacy, according to a Washington Free Beacon report.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Newly obtained State Department emails show that LGBTQI issues were made a central part of U.S. foreign policy during President Joe Biden’s administration, according to a report by The Washington Free Beacon.
The records, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Center to Advance Security in America, detail the work of Jessica Stern, who served as special envoy to advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons under Biden.
According to the Free Beacon, Stern repeatedly described efforts to embed LGBTQI issues across the State Department’s diplomatic work.
“The hard work of integrating LGBTQI rights into everything we do,” Stern wrote in one email describing her mission, according to the report.
The records show that Stern relaunched an internal LGBTQI task force designed to train diplomats, coordinate policy throughout the State Department and expand programs supporting LGBTQI advocacy overseas.
The correspondence also described efforts to increase taxpayer-funded programs for LGBTQI migrants, refugees and advocacy organizations, according to the report.
The emails show that Stern promoted the State Department’s “X” gender marker for passports after its introduction in 2021. She also encouraged foreign governments, including Taiwan, to adopt similar policies and pushed for broader recognition of transgender identities.
The documents also indicate that Stern sought closer cooperation with Germany to expand international funding for LGBTQI causes. Her office also expressed concerns about what it viewed as insufficient protections for transgender individuals in the United Kingdom.
Staff members also discussed limiting public attention to what they described as “anti-gender movements” as criticism of the Biden administration’s policies increased, according to the report.
The internal records align with public statements made by Biden administration officials.
At a State Department conference in June 2024, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “LGBTQI+ rights are human rights” and argued that promoting those rights was “profoundly in our national interest” and important to U.S. national security.
Biden wrote in a letter to attendees that protecting LGBTQI rights strengthens democracy, security and economic development. Stern said the administration viewed the issue as a matter of good governance and foreign policy.
CASA Director James Fitzpatrick told the Free Beacon that the records show diversity, equity and LGBTQI initiatives became a major focus of the Biden administration’s diplomatic agenda. He argued that those priorities often overshadowed traditional national security concerns.
The Trump administration has reversed many of the policies described in the report.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told the Free Beacon that the department is now focused on advancing “the national interests of the American people,” guided by Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s standard of whether policies make America “safer, stronger, or more prosperous.”
The administration has also ended the passport option allowing applicants to select a gender marker other than male or female. It has also dismantled numerous diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the federal government.
The documents provide a closer look at how the Biden administration used the State Department to promote LGBTQI policies internationally, while the Trump administration has moved to reorient the department toward a narrower national-interest framework.
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