Sunday, February 24, 2019

My cautious support for Trump Administration's global effort to end criminalization of homosexuality. Important reservations and questions also.

There could be at least some good things coming from the Trump Administration. Trump administration launches global effort to end criminalization of homosexuality. The administration is responding in part to a reported hanging of a young gay man in Iran, Trump’s top geopolitical foe.

At the same time, there's quite a bit of reservation about the motives and whether this administration is up to the task.

U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, the highest-profile openly gay person in the Trump administration, is leading the effort, which kicks off Tuesday (Feb. 19 2019) evening in Berlin.

Some people fear that this could be mostly a ploy to get European nations more on board with scrapping the Iran nuclear deal and further ratcheting up the sanctions against Iran. In my mind, there is an important question here. A question over what the best strategy is toward a country that threatens its neighbors and abuses human rights. Should there be engagement or isolation? Maybe Obama's nuclear deal with careful engagement was a better strategy than Trump's plans for total isolation? Who knows for sure.

Folks also question why so much focus on Iran when gay rights is also not respected in close US allies; such as Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration is doing some things toward reform in places like Saudi Arabia, but why a much more isolating strategy with Iran? I'd ask, are we taking sides in the Sunni Shiite conflict?

Then there is the questions about the Trump administration's record on gay rights and transgender issues at home. Do the problems of the Trump administration on a wide range of issues discredit any good initiatives that come out of that administration?

I continue to hope for the best.

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