WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, welcomed Randy W. Berry as the new Special Envoy for the Rights of LGBT Persons at the U.S. State Department a position that affirms LGBT rights are a foreign policy priority for the United States. Murphy is also a cosponsor of the International Human Rights Defense Act, S.302, which calls for this Special Envoy position to be permanent.

Murphy joined a coalition of Senators in writing to Mr. Berry to highlight specific global LGBT concerns.  In Egypt, foreign nationals who identify as LGBT are at risk of arrest and deportation and may be denied entry in Egypt simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Last year, 113 trans persons were murdered in Brazil, which reportedly has the highest rate of violence against the trans community in the world. Additionally, Russia’s anti-homosexuality propaganda legislation is spreading to nearby countries.

“It is essential that the United States be consistent in both word and deed, so we encourage you to explore effective mechanisms to counter extremist rhetoric, robust ways in which to respond when countries enact anti-LGBT legislation or allow violence and persecution of LGBT persons, and to strengthen collaborations and partnerships with allied governments and non-governmental organizations,” write the Senators in the letter. “We will continue to endorse the passage of the International Human Rights Defense Act so that the office of the Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBT Persons is made permanent as is the attention given by the State Department to the promotion of human rights for all persons—regardless of sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation.” 

A copy of the letter can be found here.

Senators signing the letter include Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).