Video: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton marks LGBT pride month

In another step demonstrating the Obama administration’s self-professed commitment to gay and trans rights, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has released a video to mark LGBT pride month.

Her message comes just hours after US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta released a video celebrating the contributions of gay and lesbian soldiers, and marking the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, which prohibited openly gay members from serving in the military.

“In the United States and around the world, progress is being made,” Mrs Clinton says in her message. “The tireless advocacy of generations is bending the arc of history. Barriers are being torn down, discriminatory laws repealed, and millions are now able to live more freely and participate in the future of their communities and countries.”

But, she adds, LGBT people ‘continue to be persecuted and attacked’ around the world. ‘They are arrested, beaten, tortured, and even executed,’ she says, echoing sentiments she expressed last year in Geneva during Human Rights Day.

Mrs Clinton draws attention to the fact that US ambassadors in Baltic states marched in local gay pride marches recently, and concludes by calling for a ‘concerted effort’ by the international community to combat discrimination against gay and trans people.