Please email, call, or tweet (perhaps all three) your representative through our Action Center HERE and urge him or her to oppose this weapon of intimidation to persecute those holding differing views on biological sex, marriage, and the family. Vote NO on H.R. 3485, the Global Respect Act.

The problem that the current Global Respect Act claims to resolve is already addressed in and covered by the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which imposes robust sanctions on those who engage in human rights abuses. 

The Global Respect Act purports to protect the rights of those who identify themselves as LGBTQI, but in essence, it undermines rights to freedom of conscience and religious belief for those who disagree. The bill could be used to punish individuals for viewpoints on sexual behavior and gender as a “flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty or the security of such persons.”  Moreover, H.R. 3485 threatens countries’ democratic processes and risks peace between nations.

The protection and respect of fundamental freedom are essential for a society to flourish. All human beings are born equal in dignity. To respect, promote, and guarantee fundamental freedom is a role of government, but to do so, governments should use legitimate ways that promote understanding and peace among individuals and nations.

As drafted, the current Global Respect Act does not promote respect. Instead, it creates a method of ideological colonization in which the U.S. government attempts to impose an agenda upon governments and individuals, undermining legitimate freedoms of expression and belief and attacking counties’ national sovereignty. 

People continue to be persecuted for their religious beliefs about marriage–declaring the sacred union between one man and one woman—or the biological reality of being male or female. Priests, pastors, and other individuals are accused of hate speech when they respectfully express their rights of conscience and beliefs. As written, the so-called Global Respect Act provides a weapon, using intimidation as the method to persecute those who maintain historically accepted, Biblically foundational, and scientifically accurate beliefs concerning human sex and sexuality. H.R. 3485 requires the State Department to blacklist individuals whom it accuses of causing “restrictions on the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms in foreign countries based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics.”  

Beyond sanctioning individuals, the language included within the bill could be used as a pretext to pressure countries to legalize same-sex marriage, adoption for same-sex couples, legalization of gender-affirming therapies for minors, and more.

Although this bill has not yet been enacted, we have received information that in the Dominican Republic, lawmakers have been threatened by the U.S. government with taking away their visas for not including sexual orientation and gender identity within their new criminal laws.

Countries worldwide, including the United States, are debating these issues, and they should not be punished because they are acting in respect of legitimate differences of opinion and internal democratic processes. 

International law is based upon the fundamental principles of non-intervention and sovereign equality for all countries. As drafted, the Global Respect Act infringes on these principles.

Just as the U.S. government demands respect for its institutions and representatives and for the self-determination of peoples, we as a nation have an obligation to respect the national sovereignty of other nations.