Why The Diplomatic Visa Policy Liberals Are Bashing Is Actually A Win For Gay People (liberal)

The Federalist ^ | October 9th 2018 | Joshua Herr

[Ennis85]

The Trump administration discontinued an Obama-era policy this week that granted diplomatic visas to the domestic partners of foreign diplomats to the United States, regardless of whether they are same-sex or opposite-sex. Instead, now that same-sex marriage is legal in the United States, the State Department will require those diplomats to marry in order for their partners to be eligible for diplomatic visas.

Democrats, LGBT rights organizations, and the news media immediately framed the decision as an attack on gay people, bandying headlines such as, “Trump Administration Will No Longer Grant Visas to Same-Sex Partners of Diplomats.” The Human Rights Campaign called it an “unconscionable, needless attack.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the change “cruel and discriminatory.”

These attacks misrepresent the State Department’s new policy. Far from discriminating against gay people, it is actually designed to benefit gay American diplomats abroad and to promote gay rights across the globe.

Diplomatic visas clothe the bearer in immense privileges. Once in the United States, diplomatic visa holders hold diplomatic immunity. Depending on the position, they are immune from arrest or detention, they generally cannot be sued or criminally prosecuted, they cannot be searched, and they are exempt from customs duties and most taxes.

The policy at issue was created in 2009, when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton directed the State Department to issue diplomatic visas to same-sex domestic partners of foreign diplomats in the United States and to formally ask foreign countries to issue reciprocal visas for same-sex domestic partners of American diplomats. After the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision in 2015, Secretary of State John Kerry announced that domestic partner benefits for American diplomats would be phased out.

Under the Trump administration, promotion of LGBT rights around the world has remained one of the State Department’s priorities. Despite eliminating dozens of

[Ennis85]

Leftys are taking over the comment section as usual I see.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

article: "Under the Trump administration, promotion of LGBT rights around the world has remained one of the State Department’s priorities. "

There are some really ugly remnants degrading the Trump administration. The State Department is one. President Trump should get on the ball. It's not the role of the U. S. Government to promote sodomy worldwide.

Despite President Trump's election, the State Department has changed nary a jot.