The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, on Sunday announced a program
to support gay rights abroad and expose American groups fomenting
anti-LGBT sentiment overseas.
The program's initial funding is coming
from Paul Singer and Daniel Loeb, two hedge-fund billionaires who
have donated lavishly to conservative politicians and causes. Each
has committed $1.5 million.
“Every day around the world, LGBT
individuals face arrest, imprisonment, torture and even execution
just for being who they are,” Singer
said. “Some of the worst offenders in this area also happen to
be the same regimes that have dedicated themselves to harming the
United States and its democratic allies across the globe. As an
organization that has been at the forefront of the equality movement
for over three decades, the Human Rights Campaign is uniquely
positioned to work in tandem with NGOs to empower LGBT and human
rights advocates abroad and help stop these abuses.”
Loeb added: “The challenges the LGBT
community faces are acute in many countries, where discrimination
takes violent and sometimes deadly forms. … I am confident this new
program will have an enormous impact in helping to end persecution
and enforcing civil rights for LGBT people across the world.”
Both told The
New York Times that they believe gay rights are consistent
with conservative values.
According to HRC, the international
initiative aims to “educate Americans on the human rights of LGBT
people around the world; provide fellowships at HRC for foreign LGBT
advocates; expose the work of prominent anti-gay American
organizations that have pushed anti-gay laws and legislation
overseas; and leverage its relationships with American policymakers,
faith communities, corporations and other change agents to help
protect the human rights of LGBT people abroad.”