The Biden administration has been paying a special diplomatic envoy over $180,000 a year to promote transgender, queer, and intersex rights across the globe.
State Department official Jessica Stern, the “Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) Persons,” has been traveling all over South America, Africa, Australia, and Europe to promote gender theory, lobby governments to accept radical social policies, and help nonprofit activist organizations.
Stern was appointed by President Joe Biden in September 2021. Prior to taking the job, Stern was the Executive Director of Outright International, a global organization promoting LGBTQI+ rights as human rights. In her leadership role at Outright, Stern was able to become a United Nations (UN) observer of human rights and produced official human rights reports for the powerful NGO.
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In the first weeks of his administration, Biden explicitly called on his agencies to “advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons abroad.” Speaking on behalf of Biden and his administration, Stern in April 2022 said that “promoting and protecting the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons” is a “priority” of the United States’ foreign policy.
Stern, who is a lesbian, was celebrated along with Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as LGBT hires in the early days of the Biden administration.
LGBTQI+ Health 🤝 LGBTQI+ Human Rights
Proud to work alongside @StateDept Special Envoy Jessica Stern to advance health equity and human rights for all! pic.twitter.com/mIr1MTPCrB— ADM Rachel Levine (@HHS_ASH) March 16, 2023
She claims two of her basic points of advocacy are “legal gender recognition based on the principle of self-determination” and “vulnerability of LGBTQI asylum seekers and refugees.”
Some of Stern’s LGBT advocacy efforts during her tenure in the Biden administration include her participation in Brazil’s National Trans Day of Visibility event, as well as a “mandate to advance equality for LGBTQI+ persons” that involves equity programs and the banning of religious anti-LGBT messaging.
I joined @larratsymmy & Coordinator for Indigenous LGBTQI+ Policy Larissa Pankararu at @AntraBrasil's 1st National 'Marsha' for Trans Day of Visibility celebrating all trans & nonbinary Brazilians. We march for a future in which every trans person can live proudly and fearlessly. pic.twitter.com/XMOBizCmya
— Special Envoy Jessica Stern (@US_SE_LGBTQI) January 29, 2024
During her time at the UN, Stern founded an internal agency dedicated to promoting LGBTI ideology, called the “UN LGBTI Core Group,” as well as a secretariat council to accompany it. She also led the campaign for the first UN General Assembly resolution on gender identity, led other such resolutions after it including some on sexual orientation, and led the campaign to create the Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity division at the UN.
Stern delivered the first “expert testimony” during a UN Security Council Arria, or research meeting, and served as an advisor on numerous UN panels such as the UNWomen LGBTI Reference Group.
Prior to working at Outright, Stern worked as a researcher and activist at a series of left-of-center non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Center for Constitutional Rights. Stern has taught an “LGBTQI rights” college course at Columbia University and has received honors from Crain’s New York Business media outlet, Gay City News, and the Metropolitan Community Church.
According to OpenPayRolls, Stern’s salary is 152.6 percent higher than the average federal agency employee and 164 percent higher than the average government employee nationwide.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics, economics, and culture for Valuetainment. Follow Shane on X (Twitter).
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