WASHINGTON -- The United States will begin using U.S. foreign aid to promote gay rights abroad, Obama administration officials said Tuesday.
President Barack Obama issued a memorandum directing U.S. agencies to look for ways to combat efforts by foreign governments to criminalize homosexuality.
The new initiative holds the potential to irritate relations with some close U.S. allies that ban homosexuality, including Saudi Arabia.
But Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton underscored Obama's remarks, in a speech delivered in Geneva on International Human Rights Day on Dec. 1.
"I am not saying that gay people can't or don't commit crimes," she said. "They can and they do. Just like straight people. And when they do, they should be held accountable. But it should never be a crime to be gay."
The directive comes after the Parliament in Uganda decided to reopen a debate on a controversial bill that seeks to outlaw homosexuality, a move that could be expanded to include the death penalty for gay men and lesbians. That bill had been shelved earlier this year amid widespread international condemnation.
"I am deeply concerned by the violence and discrimination targeting LGBT persons around the world," Obama said in the memorandum, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, "whether it is passing laws that criminalize LGBT status, beating citizens simply for joining peaceful LGBT pride celebrations, or killing men, women and children for their perceived sexual orientation."
Specifically, Obama said in the memorandum that the State Department would lead other federal agencies to help ensure that the government provides a "swift and meaningful response to serious incidents that threaten the human rights" of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people abroad.
It was not immediately clear whether that would mean a cut-off of U.S. aid to countries that target the gay community, but it suggests that U.S. agencies will have expanded tools to press foreign countries that are found to abuse the rights of gays, lesbians and others.
With the 2012 presidential campaign already under way, Obama's action was bound to be viewed through a political lens, and it drew fire almost immediately from one Republican candidate, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas. Saying he had seen news reports that the Obama administration "wants to make foreign aid decisions based on gay rights," Perry said in a statement, "this administration's war on traditional American values must stop."
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