By U.S. Ambassador
D. Brent Hardt
GEORGETOWN – As my tenure in Guyana draws to an end, I was saddened to hear the recent outburst from a prominent religious leader suggesting that his fellow citizens with different sexual orientations should be sent to live on an island.
It was of course John Donne who famously observed that “No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” And it is precisely because of our connections with our fellow man that we are called upon to love others as we love ourselves – the core message of Christianity and many other religious traditions.
The United States understands that the issue of LGBT rights is considered sensitive for many people and many governments. We know that the obstacles people seek to place in the way of protecting the human rights of fellow citizens who are LGBT are often said to arise from deeply held personal, political, cultural, and religious beliefs.
In citing religious or cultural norms and practices as a reason to violate or not to protect the human rights of LGBT citizens, it is easy to see parallels in justifications historically offered for some allegedly traditional violent practices towards women, such as honor killings, widow burning, or female genital mutilation. Some people still defend those practices