Quote of the Day

"Human rights are gay rights and gay rights are human rights."—Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during her address yesterday at an event co-hosted by the State Department's Office of Civil Rights and GLIFAA, the organization for Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies, echoing the phrase she made famous in 1995 at the UN's 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing. ("If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights once and for all.")

Clinton said she is asking embassies in Africa and elsewhere to report on rights of the local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. The State Department also is placing more attention on ensuring gays around the world have access to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, and providing grants to human rights activists who are persecuted either because they are gay or defend gay rights, she said.

"These dangers are not gay issues. This is a human rights issue," Clinton said. She drew more rousing applause when she declared "human rights are gay rights and gay rights are human rights," a variation on the phrase she famously delivered in Beijing 10 years ago declaring "women's rights are human rights."

Clinton said she is equally concerned about creating an environment at the State Department in which gay employees feel valued and "can give 100 percent." That is why, she said, she supported offering equal benefits to same-sex partners of State Department employees, a move that encouraged Obama to authorize such benefits for gays throughout the federal government.

She noted the State Department also has made it easier for transgender people to change their passports and, for the first time, the agency's "equal opportunity statement" will include gender identity. It already includes sexual orientation.

This, Shakers, is a politician who keeps her campaign promises, even when she doesn't win the election.

Blub x a million.

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ETA. It's interesting that the CNN article notes that Clinton's support for extending equal benefits to same-sex partners of State Department employees "encouraged Obama to authorize such benefits for gays throughout the federal government," because I recall when I wrote about her decision, in comments I noted: "An attorney would know that extending benefits only to one section of Federal Employees could prompt a lawsuit that would ultimately result in benefits for all Federal Employees. Hey—Secretary Clinton's an attorney! I wonder if she thought of that...?"

There is a game of 12-dimensional chess being played in DC. It just ain't Obama at the board.