March 15, 2019
The Trump Administration has launched a new line of attack on the Islamic Republic based on its criminal-ization of homosexuality.
Officials said the US will carry out a campaign to convince the 70 countries that now criminalize homosexuality to reverse course and legalize it. But officials said the main target of this campaign would be Iran. It appeared that Trump officials see the issue as one way to draw liberals into critiques of the Islamic Republic since gay issues are mainly supported by liberals.
The campaign was announced by Richard Grenell, the Trump Administration ambassador to Germany and highest ranking gay in the Administration.
After the announcement, a reporter asked Trump about the campaign during a press filming session at the White House. Trump said he knew nothing about it.
That prompted some to question if there really was a campaign. But others concluded it was more likely that Trump simply did not want to be on film supporting a pro-gay position, which would anger many in his base.
NBC News said the campaign was prompted by reports of the hanging recently of a 31-year-old gay man in Iran.
More than one-third of the world’s countries still criminalize homosexuality, so Iran is not a rare instance.