In an address to Swedish lawmakers on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder highlighted the Obama administration's support for LGBT rights.

In delivering his remarks to the Parliament of Sweden, Holder praised Sweden as a champion of human rights.

“As a result – especially in recent decades – our nations have together made historic strides in the long march toward freedom and justice for all of our citizens. And Sweden has in many respects led the way,” Holder said.

“By passing the Discrimination Act of 2008, you've freed countless people to achieve whatever their dreams, their talents, and their own hard work will allow – without fear of discrimination on the basis of sex, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, age, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation. By becoming the seventh nation in the world to extend the right to marry to gay and lesbian couples, you've stabilized families and expanded individual liberty.”

“Just as our forebears came together to overcome tremendous adversity – and to forge the more just and more equal societies in which we now live – so, too, must the current generation rise to the causes that have become the struggles of our day; the defining civil rights challenges of our time. I believe one of these struggles is the fight for equality for our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender – or LGBT – citizens. And that is why my colleagues and I are working alongside leaders like you and people around the world to make a positive difference. I am particularly impressed by the formulation that the United States Embassy in Stockholm used as it engaged in the annual Pride festival last July: U.S. Embassy Stockholm is 'anti-anti-gay.'”

Holder ticked off several of the Obama administration's accomplishments related to LGBT rights, including repeal of the military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy, passage of gay-inclusive hate crimes legislation and adding new protections for LGBT survivors of domestic abuse. He went on to praise June's Supreme Court decision knocking down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

“And last June – in a historic decision known as United States v. Windsor – the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal government's ban on recognizing gay couples who are legally married. This marked a major victory for the cause of equal protection under U.S. law, and a significant step forward for committed and loving couples throughout the country. Today, these couples and their families are one step closer to the equal treatment, and the full recognition, to which they, their loved ones, and their children are entitled. And as we speak, my dedicated colleagues – led by the Justice Department's Civil Division – are working tirelessly to implement this ruling in both letter and spirit – by expanding critical benefits like health insurance for federal employees in same-sex marriages; by ensuring equal treatment under tax and immigration laws; and by adjudicating visa applications for same-sex married couples on the same terms as applications for opposite-sex spouses,” Holder added.