The Trump administration may put pressure on allied countries that criminalize homosexuality to change their laws by sharing less intelligence with them.
Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell has spearheaded a U.S. pressure campaign, announced last year, to induce the 68 countries where homosexuality is still illegal to at least decriminalize it. Grenell is the first openly gay person to be appointed to a Cabinet position.
“We can’t just simply make the moral argument and expect others to respond in kind because telling others that it’s the right thing to do doesn’t always work,” the intelligence director said. “To fight for decriminalization is to fight for basic human rights.”
Several countries the U.S. coordinates closely with on intelligence, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, still outlaw homosexuality. Since the effort to pressure countries to change their laws began, only Botswana has decriminalized homosexuality when the high court overturned the law against it in June in a case that predated U.S. efforts.
Grenell, who has also floated using the incentive of foreign aid to influence countries to alter their laws, said President Trump backs the campaign, which the intelligence director planted seeds for while serving in his former position as the administration’s envoy to Germany.
“We have the president’s total support,” Grenell said. “This is an American value, and this is United States policy.”
“If a country that we worked in as the United States intelligence community was arresting women because of their gender, we would absolutely do something about it,” Grenell said. “Ultimately, the United States is safer when our partners respect basic human rights.”
Grenell was outspoken in his criticism of the reported execution and hanging of a young gay man in Iran last year, calling the incident “a wake-up call for anyone who supports basic human right.”