President Barack Obama and Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton have been praised for their support of gay
rights around the globe.
Obama and Clinton were lauded in a
resolution approved on Wednesday by the City of Chicago Commission on
Human Relations' Advisory Council on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Issues at its final meeting.
In announcing a new global initiative
to support gay rights, Clinton
told diplomats during an impassioned speech at the United Nations
offices in Geneva that gay rights are human rights.
Obama
signed a memorandum that ties some foreign aid to gay rights.
“No recent steps toward protecting
sexual-minority rights could be more fitting for this Advisory
Council to recognize at its final meeting than the praiseworthy and
influential initiatives taken during the past month by the President
and the Secretary of State,” the
council's resolution states in part.
“[T]his Advisory Council thanks and
congratulates President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton for their ongoing efforts to secure the human rights
of LGBT persons in this country and worldwide.”