“The Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s unanimous condemnation of the ongoing violence and persecution against LGBTQ Chechens is crucially important,” said Ty Cobb, director of HRC Global. “President Trump’s severe lack of leadership on this life and death situation in Russia is deeply disturbing, and it’s far past time he speaks out. Given the violence and arrests LGBTQ people are facing in places like Chechnya, Azerbaijan, Tanzania, and Egypt, the U.S. must not back away from leading on LGBTQ human rights. We urge the full Senate to quickly pass this important resolution and send a strong message to this administration, the victims, and those responsible for these atrocities.”

The bipartisan resolution, which was introduced by Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Ed Markey (D-MA), is nearly identical to a resolution that passed the House of Representatives in June.

  Like the House version, S. Res. 211 “calls on Chechen officials to immediately cease the abduction, detention, and torture of individuals on the basis of their actual or suspected sexual orientation, and hold accountable all those involved in perpetrating such abuses.” It also calls on the U.S. government to “continue to condemn the violence and persecution in Chechnya,” something that President Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have thus far failed to publicly do. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is the most senior administration official to have spoken out.

Since early this year, Chechen authorities have rounded up and detained more than 100 men in secret prisons, under suspicion that they are gay or bisexual. Chechen leaders have denied these accusations, going so far as to deny the very existence of LGBTQ people in Chechnya. Nonetheless, there have been numerous verified reports of torture and at least three and possibly as many as 20 men have been killed. Chechen officials have also reportedly encouraged families to murder relatives they suspect might be gay, something that at least one family seems to have acted on.

While the Trump-Pence administration has been largely silent on this issue, Congress has been unified across the aisle in condemning the atrocities. The Senate resolution that received committee approval today has more than 40 cosponsors, including 13 Republicans. Similarly, the House version (H. Res. 351) had 85 cosponsors, including 21 Republicans.

To learn more about the atrocities occurring in Chechnya, visit www.hrc.org/chechnya

The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.

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