On Foreign Aid and LGBT rights

Recent pronouncements by President Obama; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Prime Minister David Cameron linking foreign aid to LGBT rights (Lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual) have had a predictably varied and enthusiastic reaction from all sides. A new firestorm on this sensitive and intractable human rights issue has been lit.

There has been a general positive reaction to this new foreign policy direction Europe and Latin America have led the way. The speech of Secretary Clinton at the United Nations has put the human rights issue of the LGBT community back into the centre of public debate. However there has also been the cynical or not so cynical perspective that in the US the policy is linked to the pending Presidential elections.

The reaction of Churches and civil society across Africa to the recent pronouncement is evident in the headlines. They read; Malawi churches against aid tied to homosexuality; Zambian churches unhappy with US stance to tie aid to homosexual rights; Nigerian Senate passes anti gay bill defying British aid threat.

Questions have also been raised about the practicalities of this enforcement and balance in the enforcement of such a linkage. News papers in Asia have pushed a geopolitical line raising questions about the credibility of some of America's key allies namely Turkey and Saudi Arabia on LGBT rights. The unstated questions being asked are; what is the nature of the linkage between aid, LGBT rights and matters of oil security, military bases and weapons sales. How far can this linkage be pushed maintaining consistency in relation to all nations in this new policy direction?