Clinton: Religious Objections Do Not Trump LGBT Rights

December 8, 2011

U.S. Secretary of State HIllary Clinton said Tuesday at a U.N. event for International Human Rights Day that religious convictions should not trump gay rights, the Religion News Service reports. "The obstacles standing in the way of protecting the human rights of LGBT people rest on deeply held personal, political, cultural and religious beliefs," she said. "The ... perhaps most challenging issue arises when people cite religious or cultural values as a reason to violate or not to protect the human rights of LGBT citizens. ... No practice or tradition trumps the human rights that belong to all of us." LGBT activists called the speech historic, and meanwhile, President Obama announced that U.S. foreign aid dollars would assist in protecting the rights of homosexuals abroad.