PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Diplomatic Service: LGBT+ People (30 June 2015)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department and UK embassies are taking to promote LGBT rights (a) in British Overseas Territories, (b) the Commonwealth and (c) globally.

Asked by:
Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat)

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) works through our embassies and high commissions, and through international organisations, including the Commonwealth, the EU and the UN, to promote tolerance and non-discrimination against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGB&T) people and to address discriminatory laws, in particular those that criminalise homosexuality. The UK Overseas Territories are self-governing administrations with their own laws and constitutions and such matters fall within the remit of local legislatures. The FCO works with Overseas Territory Governments to ensure they adhere to international human rights standards generally and encourages them to pursue policies and, where appropriate, enact legislation guaranteeing LGB&T rights.

As a member of the Commonwealth, the UK encourages both the Commonwealth Secretariat and our fellow member states to do more to protect the rights of its LGB&T citizens. Through our High Commissions, we continue to urge all Commonwealth States to review laws that criminalise homosexuality and that discriminate against people on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. At the same time, we raise cases of discrimination and violence against LGB&T people in individual Commonwealth countries.

Answered by:
Sir David Lidington (Conservative)
6 July 2015