H.R. 4245 — GLOBE Act of 2025

This section states congressional findings on global human rights violations against LGBTQI persons, including criminalization of same-sex relations in 62 countries (roughly 32% of the world); documented violence, discrimination, and complicity by authorities in State Department reports; macroeconomic costs measured by the World Bank; health risks such as reduced HIV services and disproportionate impacts from the Mexico City Policy (global gag rule) and anti-prostitution oath; at least 350 reported transgender murders from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024; challenges for intersex individuals and asylum seekers; and U.S. actions such as directives from Presidents Obama (2011) and Biden (2021) and the State Department's Special Envoy position (established 2015).

This section amends the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices required under section 116(d) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d)) and reports under section 502B (22 U.S.C. 2304)—which inform U.S. foreign assistance and security aid decisions—by adding requirements to include, wherever applicable, the nature and extent of criminalization, discrimination, and violence by state and non-state actors against LGBTQI+ persons based on sexual orientation or gender identity (as defined in section 12 of the GLOBE Act of 2025) or sex characteristics, including descriptions of relevant laws or constitutional provisions. It further (1) requires the Secretary of State, in preparing such reports, to obtain from each diplomatic and consular post information on incidents of violence against LGBTQI+ persons, enabling factors (e.g., government policy), and post responses, and to incorporate related diplomatic strategies (e.g., capacity-building for documentation, investigation, prosecution, and victim support) into regional bureau annual strategic plans; (2) establishes an interagency group, chaired by the Secretary of State and including the Secretaries of Defense and the Treasury, the USAID Administrator, the Attorney General, and others, to coordinate agency responses to threats against LGBTQI+ populations abroad, develop long-term policies, advise on sanctions designations, identify affirming U.S. laws and policies, and promote diplomatic strategies sharing related U.S. expertise; and (3) establishes in the Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor a permanent Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Peoples, appointed by the President (potentially at ambassador rank with Senate confirmation), to advise the Secretary of State, direct Department programs and funding on LGBTQI+ human rights and equality, coordinate other agency efforts, and represent the United States internationally on these issues.

This section requires the President, not later than 180 days after enactment and biannually thereafter, to transmit to the appropriate congressional committees and publish in the Federal Register a list of each foreign person determined, based on credible information, to be responsible for or complicit in gross human rights violations—torture or cruel treatment; prolonged detention without charges; enforced disappearances; or other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or security—against persons based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics, or to have acted as an agent thereof. The list may include a classified annex under specified national security conditions; must be updated as new information becomes available; and allows removal of persons who meet certain criteria (e.g., credible evidence of non-involvement, appropriate prosecution, significant behavioral change, or vital U.S. national security interests). It further directs public guidance for information submissions; requires responses within 120 days to written requests from chairs or ranking members of relevant committees regarding specific persons; and renders listed foreign persons, plus their immediate family members, inadmissible to the United States, ineligible for visas or other entry documentation or benefits under the Immigration and Nationality Act, with any existing visas revoked in accordance with current law (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)).

This section directs the Secretary of State, in consultation with the USAID Administrator, to include in annual strategic planning an examination of global progress toward decriminalizing the status, expression, and conduct of LGBTQI individuals; remaining obstacles; and strategies available to the Department of State and USAID. The examination must cover (1) countries' criminal and civil laws that disproportionately impact LGBTQI communities or apply to their conduct; and (2) in consultation with the Attorney General, a list of priority countries by geographic region for (A) Department of Justice programs through the Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training to decriminalize such status, expression, and conduct; monitor related prosecutions; and reform discriminatory laws; and (B) U.S. government-sponsored speaker and exchange programs to promote LGBTQI rights through U.S.-based educational exchanges involving civil society and government leaders.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that U.S. foreign assistance organizations must not discriminate against employees or applicants based on gender identity or sexual orientation, consistent with Executive Order 13988 and Bostock v. Clayton County. It establishes the Global Equality Fund, managed by the Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, to provide grants, emergency assistance, and technical assistance to civil society organizations and human rights defenders advancing LGBTQI rights by (A) ensuring freedoms of assembly, association, and expression; (B) protecting against violence, including medically unnecessary interventions on intersex infants; (C) advocating against criminalization or discrimination based on LGBTQI status; (D) ending discrimination in workplaces, housing, education, and public services; and (E) building community support. (The fund may accept contributions from corporations, donors, foundations, and other entities and must prioritize historically excluded groups.) It further directs the USAID Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to establish the LGBTQI Global Development Partnership to leverage contributions from corporations, donors, foundations, nongovernmental organizations, and universities for (1) strengthening LGBTQI civil society capacity; (2) training LGBTQI leaders for democratic participation; (3) conducting policy research; and (4) promoting inclusive development, including LGBTQI entrepreneurship. It requires interagency consultation; annual reporting to congressional committees on the fund and partnership; prohibits assistance to contractors, grantees, or partners that do not ensure equal program access for all populations (except high-risk targeting), subgrantee compliance efforts, and fund return with penalties for noncompliance; mandates quarterly reports on monitoring methods; and directs the Office of Foreign Assistance to track and report LGBTQI-related expenditures to the OECD upon request.

This section directs the Coordinator of United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally to develop mechanisms ensuring the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)—a U.S. global HIV/AIDS program—equitably serves LGBTQI people, including by requiring partner training on their health needs and human rights and notifying Congress of implementation obstacles. This section requires the Coordinator to submit reports to congressional committees, due 180 days after enactment, on (1) use of PEPFAR-funded commodities (e.g., condoms) as evidence in foreign prosecutions for sex work or consensual sexual activity; and (2) impacts of partner notification services and index testing on treatment adherence, intimate partner violence, and criminal justice exposure for key populations including LGBTQI people and sex workers. It further requires a Comptroller General report, due 180 days after enactment, on impacts of any Mexico City Policy iteration on the global LGBTQI community. This section removes limitations on foreign nongovernmental organization eligibility for assistance under part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 by (1) providing that such organizations are not ineligible solely for providing health or medical services (including counseling and referrals) with non-U.S. funds if compliant with host-country laws, and are not subject to non-U.S. fund use restrictions on advocacy and lobbying beyond those applying to U.S. organizations; and (2) making conforming amendments striking restrictive provisions, including subsections (d)-(f) of section 301 of the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7631); specified requirements in section 403(a) of such Act (22 U.S.C. 7673(a)); and subsection (g) of section 113 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7110).

This section amends the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to expand protections for aliens facing persecution based on sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI). Specifically, with respect to refugees and asylum seekers, the section (1) deems SOGI-based persecution or well-founded fear thereof as persecution on account of membership in a particular social group under INA §101(a)(42); (2) requires the DHS annual report under INA §103(e) to include data on SOGI-based asylum and refugee applications and their administrative approval rates; and (3) repeals the one-year filing deadline for asylum applications under INA §208(a)(2)(B), with conforming amendments, applying to applications filed before, on, or after enactment (Thus, any alien physically present in the United States may apply for asylum regardless of time elapsed since arrival, subject to other bars.). The section further (1) expands the INA definition of "spouse" in §101(a)(35) to include "permanent partners" meeting specified criteria (i.e., age 18 or older; committed, intimate, lifelong relationship; financial interdependence; unmarried to others; from a country prohibiting their marriage; and not close blood relatives); (2) defines "marriage," "permanent partner," and "permanent partnership" accordingly in new §101(a)(53)-(55); (3) requires government-appointed counsel at no cost to indigent aliens in removal proceedings under INA §240(b)(4) and certain other proceedings under INA §292, as amended; and (4) grants aliens the right to privately retained counsel at no government expense in refugee admission interviews under INA §207. In addition, the section (1) deems LGBTQI aliens from countries failing to protect against SOGI persecution—sharing characteristics identifying them as targets thereof—eligible for Priority 2 refugee processing; (2) requires the Department of State, with consent, to share a refugee's SOGI disclosure with national resettlement agencies for appropriate community placement and services; and (3) directs DHS, in consultation with State, to establish a training program for staff and translators to enable safe SOGI disclosure.

This section directs the Secretary of State to (1) allow applicants for passports and consular reports of birth abroad to self-select sex designations, including nonbinary or neutral designations such as “X”; and (2) issue regulations within 90 days of enactment clarifying that no biological connection is required for a child born abroad using assistive reproductive technology to acquire U.S. citizenship at birth from a U.S. citizen parent under INA §301(c), (d), (e), or (g) (8 U.S.C. 1401(c), (d), (e), or (g)), provided such parent is recognized as the legal parent from birth under local law at the place of birth or U.S. law. (As background, these INA provisions grant citizenship at birth to children born outside the United States to at least one U.S. citizen parent who meets specified prior physical presence requirements in the United States.)

This section states the sense of Congress that the United States should lead United Nations efforts to ensure human rights norms, development principles, and political rights are inclusive of LGBTQI people; use U.S. leadership in international financial institutions such as the World Bank and regional development banks to make their programs inclusive of LGBTQI people; and direct the Secretary of State to encourage equal treatment of LGBTQI people in regional, multilateral, and international fora such as the Organization of American States, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, European Union, African Union, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The section further directs the Secretary of State to promote diplomatic coordination through the Equal Rights Coalition—established in July 2016 at the Global LGBTQI Human Rights Conference in Montevideo, Uruguay—and other multilateral mechanisms to achieve those goals.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State should prioritize efforts to prevent foreign governments from impeding assignments of U.S. LGBTQI citizens and families to diplomatic and consular posts, engage the U.S. private sector on related visa issues, and improve post and school information for such employees and families. It further requires the Secretary to use diplomatic efforts to secure visas for families of LGBTQI Department of State employees posted abroad and, within 180 days of enactment, submit to Congress a classified list of countries that refused accreditation to such employees or family members in the prior two years, along with actions taken or planned. The section also directs the Secretary to provide LGBTQI employees and families with adequate country environment information for overseas postings; ensure U.S. government-supported overseas schools (via the Office of Overseas Schools) have nondiscrimination policies covering sexual orientation and gender identity; and include information on LGBTQI children in post reports, bidding materials, and school databases.

This section defines terms for purposes of the Act: (1) “appropriate congressional committees” as the House Committees on Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, and Appropriations and the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations, Judiciary, and Appropriations; (2) “gender identity” as the gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual’s designated sex at birth; (3) “LGBTQI” as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex; (4) “member of a vulnerable group” as an alien who is under 21 or over 60 years of age, pregnant, identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex, is a victim or witness of a crime, has filed a nonfrivolous civil rights claim, has a serious mental or physical illness or disability, has credible fear of persecution under INA §235(b)(1)(B) (8 U.S.C. §1225(b)(1)(B)), or has been determined to be experiencing severe trauma or to be a survivor of torture or gender-based violence; and (5) “sexual orientation” as actual or perceived homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality.