S. 2231 — GLOBE Act of 2025

This section establishes short titles for the Act as the “Greater Leadership Overseas for the Benefit of Equality Act of 2025” or the “GLOBE Act of 2025” and sets forth the table of contents.

This section states congressional findings concerning global human rights violations against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) persons, including that same-sex relations are criminalized in at least 62 countries (roughly 32% of the world); there were at least 350 reported killings of transgender and gender-diverse people from October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024; and such discrimination contributes to lost productivity, health risks (e.g., reduced HIV testing and treatment), and impacts on U.S.-supported programs (e.g., Mexico City Policy, anti-prostitution oath).

This section defines terms for purposes of the Act: (1) appropriate congressional committees (i.e., the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations, Foreign Relations (Senate)/Foreign Affairs (House), and Judiciary); (2) gender identity (i.e., 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 (i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex); (4) member of a vulnerable group (i.e., an alien younger than 21 years of age or older than 60 years of age, pregnant, identifying as LGBTQI, a victim or witness of a crime, filing a nonfrivolous civil rights claim, with a serious mental or physical illness or disability, determined to have a credible fear of persecution under 8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)(B), or determined to be experiencing severe trauma or a survivor of torture or gender-based violence); and (5) sexual orientation (i.e., actual or perceived homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality).

This section amends annual human rights country reports under sections 116(d) and 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151n(d), 2304) to require, wherever applicable, information on the nature and extent of criminalization, discrimination, and violence by state and non-state actors against LGBTQI people based on sexual orientation or gender identity (as defined in section 3 of the GLOBE Act of 2025) or sex characteristics, including identification and descriptions of relevant laws or constitutional provisions in such countries. (These reports, produced by the Department of State, inform U.S. foreign assistance decisions by detailing human rights conditions in countries receiving aid.) This section further directs the Secretary of State to obtain from each diplomatic and consular post information on incidents of violence against LGBTQI people, enabling factors (e.g., government policy), and post responses, and to incorporate concrete diplomatic strategies into regional bureau annual strategic plans to address bias-motivated violence (e.g., capacity-building for documentation, investigation, prosecution, and victim support). This section 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 other relevant agency heads, to (1) coordinate agency responses to threats against LGBTQI populations abroad; (2) develop long-term policy approaches; (3) advise the President on sanctions designations under section 5; (4) identify U.S. laws and policies affirming LGBTQI equality; and (5) leverage such laws for diplomatic strategies with foreign governments. This section establishes in the Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor the permanent position of Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTQI Peoples, appointed by the President (possibly at ambassador rank with Senate confirmation), to serve as principal advisor to the Secretary; direct State Department and coordinate federal activities, policies, programs, and funding on international LGBTQI human rights and equality; and represent the United States in related bilateral and multilateral engagements.

This section requires the President, not later than 180 days after enactment and biannually thereafter, to submit to the appropriate congressional committees a list of each foreign person determined, based on credible information, to be responsible for or complicit in gross human rights violations against persons based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics—specifically, (1) torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; (2) prolonged detention without charges and trial; (3) causing the disappearance of such persons by abduction and clandestine detention; or (4) other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or security of such persons—or who acted as an agent in such matters. The list must be submitted in unclassified form, published in the Federal Register (disregarding INA confidentiality requirements for visa records), and updated as new information becomes available, with limited use of a classified annex and specified removal criteria reported to Congress at least 15 days in advance (e.g., new credible evidence of non-involvement, appropriate prosecution, significant behavioral change with consequences, or vital U.S. national security interests). It further requires public guidance through U.S. diplomatic and consular posts for submitting names for inclusion and consideration of information or requests (with responses within 120 days) from the chair or ranking member of relevant congressional committees. Foreign persons on the list, and their immediate family members, are inadmissible to the United States, ineligible for visas or other entry documentation or benefits under the INA, and subject to visa revocation under INA §221(i). (Thus, this imposes targeted immigration sanctions, akin to human rights-related visa restrictions under other authorities.)

This section directs the Secretary of State, in consultation with the USAID Administrator, to include in annual strategic planning (1) an examination of global progress toward decriminalizing the status, expression, and conduct of LGBTQI individuals; (2) remaining obstacles to such decriminalization; and (3) strategies for the Department of State and USAID to address those obstacles. The required examination must cover (1) the full range of foreign criminal and civil laws disproportionately impacting LGBTQI communities or applying to their conduct; and (2), in consultation with the Attorney General, a list of countries per geographic region to prioritize (A) Department of Justice programs through the Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training to decriminalize LGBTQI status, expression, and conduct; monitor related prosecutions; and reform discriminatory laws; and (B) U.S. government speaker and exchange programs to promote LGBTQI rights by convening foreign civil society and government leaders for U.S.-based educational exchanges.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that full implementation of Executive Order 13988 and the Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County requires U.S. foreign assistance organizations to prohibit discrimination against employees or applicants based on gender identity or sexual orientation in humanitarian, development, or global health programs. This section establishes the Global Equality Fund, managed by the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, to provide grants, emergency assistance, and technical assistance—potentially funded by appropriations and contributions from other entities—to civil society organizations and human rights defenders advancing LGBTQI rights, including freedoms of assembly, association, and expression; protection from violence (e.g., medically unnecessary interventions on intersex infants); opposition to criminalization or discrimination; ending discrimination in public institutions; and building community support, with prioritization for historically excluded groups. This section directs the USAID Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to establish the LGBTQI Global Development Partnership to leverage contributions from various entities for programs strengthening LGBTQI civil society, training leaders for democratic participation, conducting policy research, and promoting inclusive development (e.g., economic empowerment). This section requires the Secretary of State to consult with the USAID Administrator and other relevant agency heads; submit an annual report to appropriate congressional committees on the Fund and Partnership; prohibit funding for humanitarian, development, or global health programs to any contractor, grantee, or partner unless they ensure equal access for all populations (except for targeted high-risk groups), extend this to subrecipients, and agree to return funds plus penalties for noncompliance; submit quarterly reports on monitoring compliance; and direct the Office of Foreign Assistance to monitor obligations and expenditures on LGBTQI-related programs and share indicators with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development upon request.

This section directs the Coordinator of United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally to develop mechanisms ensuring equitable implementation of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)—the primary U.S. global program to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS—for LGBTQI people, including partner training on their health needs and human rights, and to notify Congress of implementation obstacles. It requires the Coordinator to submit reports, due 180 days after enactment, on (1) foreign use of PEPFAR-funded commodities (e.g., condoms) in 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 also requires a Comptroller General report, due 180 days after enactment, on impacts of any Mexico City Policy iteration (i.e., restrictions on U.S. foreign aid to organizations providing or promoting abortion services) on the global LGBTQI community. This section further removes eligibility restrictions on foreign nongovernmental organizations receiving assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 by permitting health/medical services (including counseling and referrals) funded by non-U.S. government sources—so long as compliant with host-country law—and by eliminating disparate non-U.S. fund restrictions on their advocacy/lobbying. It makes conforming amendments by (1) striking subsections (d) through (f) of Section 301 of the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7631)—which restricted assistance based on abortion-related activities—and redesignating subsection (g) as (d); (2) striking from Section 403(a) of that Act (22 U.S.C. 7673(a)) requirements that the Global AIDS Coordinator withhold funds from organizations using non-U.S. funds for certain abortion activities or promoting sex workers' rights; and (3) striking subsection (g) from Section 113 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7110)—which imposed similar abortion-related funding limitations—and redesignating subsections (h) and (i) as (g) and (h). (Thus, these changes broaden eligibility for U.S. global health and anti-trafficking assistance programs.)

This section amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to expand protections and procedural rights for certain aliens, particularly those facing persecution based on sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI). **(a) Refugees and asylum seekers.** (1) Deems persecution or well-founded fear of persecution based on SOGI as on account of membership in a particular social group for refugee and asylum determinations (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(42)). (2) Updates reporting requirements to reference U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services field offices (from Service district offices) and requires annual reports to include the number of asylum and refugee applications based wholly or partly on SOGI claims and their administrative approval rates (8 U.S.C. 1103(e)). (3) Repeals the one-year filing deadline for asylum applications, with conforming amendments to exceptions, and applies the change retroactively to all applications (8 U.S.C. 1158(a)(2)). **(b) Permanent partners.** Expands the definitions of "spouse" and "husband" to include "permanent partners"; defines "marriage" to include a permanent partnership; and defines "permanent partner" as an individual age 18 or older in a committed, intimate, lifelong-intent relationship that is financially interdependent, non-marital to others, from a country prohibiting their marriage, and non-blood-related within three degrees (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)). **(c) Counsel.** Requires government-appointed counsel for indigent aliens requesting representation in removal proceedings (8 U.S.C. 1229a(b)(4), 1362) and, at no government expense, in refugee admission interviews under INA §207 (8 U.S.C. 1362). **(d) Refugee admissions of LGBTQI aliens from certain countries.** Designates aliens from countries failing to protect against SOGI persecution—and sharing characteristics identifying them as SOGI targets—eligible for Priority 2 refugee processing (i.e., for groups of special humanitarian concern). Requires the Secretary of State, with consent, to share a refugee's disclosed SOGI information with national resettlement agencies to avoid discriminatory placement and ensure appropriate services.

This section (1) requires the Department of State to allow applicants for passports and consular reports of birth abroad to self-select sex designations, including nonbinary or neutral options such as “X”; and (2) directs the Secretary of State to issue regulations within 90 days of enactment clarifying that no biological connection is required for a child born abroad 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)) if local law at the place of birth or U.S. law recognizes such person as the legal parent from birth. (As background, these INA provisions transmit citizenship at birth to children born abroad to at least one U.S. citizen parent who meets specified physical presence requirements in the United States.)

This section expresses 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 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 these goals.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State should (1) prioritize efforts to prevent foreign governments from impeding assignments of LGBTQI U.S. citizens and families to diplomatic and consular posts; (2) engage U.S. private sector entities on visa issues for their LGBTQI employees abroad; and (3) improve post and school information for LGBTQI employees and families. The section further requires the Secretary to (1) use diplomatic efforts to secure visas for families of LGBTQI Department of State employees posted abroad; (2) submit to Congress within 180 days a classified list of countries that refused accreditation to such employees or families in the prior two years, along with actions taken or planned to secure appointments and family accreditations; and (3) ensure adequate country environment information for LGBTQI employees and families (including children) in post reports, bidding materials, and Office of Overseas Schools resources, as well as nondiscrimination policies relating to sexual orientation and gender identity in U.S. government-supported overseas schools.