GLOBE Act of 2025

The "Greater Leadership Overseas for the Benefit of Equality Act of 2025," or "GLOBE Act of 2025," seeks to advance and protect the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) individuals worldwide. It establishes comprehensive strategies across U.S. foreign policy, aid, and immigration to combat discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics. The bill mandates enhanced reporting on LGBTQI human rights abuses in annual country reports and creates an interagency group to coordinate U.S. responses to urgent threats against LGBTQI people abroad. It also establishes a permanent Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTQI Peoples within the State Department to lead global efforts and ensure training at international law enforcement academies includes LGBTQI rights. The Act requires the President to biannually list and sanction foreign persons responsible for severe human rights violations against LGBTQI individuals, making them inadmissible to the U.S. It also establishes the Global Equality Fund and the LGBTQI Global Development Partnership to provide grants and support to civil society organizations working on LGBTQI rights and inclusive development. The legislation promotes LGBTQI inclusivity in global health programs, including the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and removes limitations on foreign assistance related to health services, effectively repealing the Mexico City Policy. It also reforms immigration law by recognizing LGBTQI status as a basis for asylum, defining "permanent partners" for immigration purposes, and limiting detention for vulnerable LGBTQI aliens. Furthermore, the bill ensures that U.S. identity documents, like passports, allow for nonbinary sex designations and guarantees citizenship for children born abroad to U.S. citizens via assisted reproductive technology. It directs the U.S. to engage international organizations to combat discrimination and supports LGBTQI U.S. citizens and their families serving in diplomatic posts abroad by addressing potential impediments to their assignments.