Photo of the Week: Defending the Rights of LGBT People

Hannah Johnson serves as an Assistant Editor for DipNote.

This week's "Photo of the Week" comes to us from the U.S. Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic and shows Ambassador Norman L. Eisen and a group from the embassy marching in the second annual Pride Parade in Prague on Saturday, August 18, 2012. The parade participants walked from Wenceslas Square to Strelecky Island accompanied by floats with music and dancers.

The United States is working throughout the world to defend the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people of all races, religions, and nationalities as part of our comprehensive human rights policy and as a priority of our foreign policy. On August 23, 2012, Spokesperson Victoria Nuland issued a statement on the arrest and harassment of gay, lesbian, and transgender activists in Zimbabwe. Spokesperson Nuland said, "The United States condemns the Government of Zimbabwe's violent arrest and detention of 44 members of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe on August 11 and a second raid by police on August 20. Several of these members sustained serious medical injuries from the attacks and were detained without charges. The Government of Zimbabwe has also targeted these same members' homes and singled out their families for interrogation and harassment.

"The United States stands in solidarity with Zimbabwe's civil society, including LGBT activists. We are deeply concerned when security forces become an instrument of political violence used against citizens exercising their democratic rights. We call upon the Government of Zimbabwe to end this pattern of abuse and to eradicate the culture of impunity that allows members of the security sector to continue to violate the rights of the Zimbabwean people."

You can learn more about the Department of State's efforts to promote the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people here.