Accessing U.S. Embassies: a Guide for LGBT Human Rights Defenders

This guide is intended as a manual for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists and NGOs in other countries to help them understand how U.S. embassies work; how to call on U.S. diplomats to support their human rights goals; how to access U.S. support, including both technical and financial support; and how to frame requests in ways that will appeal to strategic U.S. priorities. The guide also emphasizes the limits of U.S. embassy support and the potential that exists for backlash in some hostile environments. By presenting both the opportunities and potential pitfalls of U.S. embassy engagement, and by highlighting those with concrete examples, the Council aims to provide both the information and the context that will allow individual human rights defenders and organizations to to decide for themselves whether they want to approach U.S. embassies as partners in their work. The appendix to the guide includes a speech delivered by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to UN diplomats and NGO guests for Human Rights Day at the UN in December 2011.