Garcia, Johnson, McBride lead 61 Members of Congress Calling on State Department to Restore LGBTQI+ Human Rights Data

WASHINGTON, DC — Last week, the Co-Chairs of the Congressional Equality Caucus’s International LGBTQI+ Rights Task Force—Rep. Robert Garcia (CA-42), Rep. Julie Johnson (TX-32), and Rep. Sarah McBride (DE-AL)—led 61 Members of Congress in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio opposing the removal of LGBTQI-specific data from the 2024 Country Report on Human Rights and urging its restoration.

In their letter, the Members say:

“We strongly oppose your decision to remove the subsection on Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC Subsection) from the State Department’s Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (Human Rights Reports). We urge you to restore this information, or else ensure it is integrated throughout each Human Rights Report. We are also deeply concerned about the broader rollback of the section on Discrimination and Societal Abuses which has existed for many years—including during the first Trump administration.”

They continue:

“The information in these reports is critical—not just for human rights advocates—but also for Americans travelling abroad. LGBTQI+ Americans and their families must continue to have access to comprehensive, reliable information about a country’s human rights record so they can plan travel and take appropriate precautions. Especially for Americans who may have to travel to hostile countries for work, the SOGIESC subsection of the Human Rights Reports has provided a key tool to help minimize the risk of discrimination and violence.

“We also know the criminalization of LGBTQI+ people often goes hand-in-hand with crackdowns on other minority groups, a rollback of civil liberties, and the general erosion of democratic principles. This makes information about attacks on LGBTQI+ people additionally vital for understanding trends regarding the rise of authoritarianism, persecution of ethnic and religious minorities, and threats to human rights more broadly.”

The Members further highlight how Secretary Rubio previously spoke out against human rights abuses against LGBTQI+ people when he was a Senator:

“[A]s Senator you condemned the Chechen government’s brutal campaign against LGBTQI+ people. In your words, the ‘United States and other responsible nations should do more to ensure that all people are protected and those who harm them are held responsible’ and that ‘we should use our voice on the global stage to call attention to these horrifying acts and to ensure that they are condemned in an appropriate way, ultimately in the hopes that they will be stopped.’ As Secretary of State, you have an obligation to ensure the United States does not retreat from these efforts.”

The full letter can be read here.

In the 118th Congress, Rep. Robert Garcia led the International Human Rights Defense Act, which was endorsed by the Congressional Equality Caucus, to reaffirm the United States’ role in protecting and promoting LGBTQI+ rights on the world stage, including by requiring the State Department to document criminalization, discrimination, and violence against LGBTQI+ people in its Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.