Brunei, Malaysia Should be Left Out of TPP Unless LGBT Abuses Addressed, Say Lawmakers
The Brunei and Malaysian governments continue to sponsor gross human rights violations, including persecution of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals, and the Obama administration should remove those countries from Trans-Pacific Partnership talks unless the two countries “address” those issues, said five members of the House LGBT caucus in a Feb. 18 letter to President Barack Obama (here). House members Mark Pocan, D-Wis., Mark Takano, D-Calif., D-R.I., Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., and Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., signed the letter.
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No progress has been made in the treatment of the LGBT community in Brunei and Malaysia since lawmakers pushed the administration in 2014 to pressure change, said the letter. The lawmakers also said the inclusion of Brunei and Malaysia would set an inconsistent foreign policy precedent, pointing to the U.S. removal of The Gambia from the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The administration cut AGOA ties with The Gambia, at least partially, over a homosexuality law, the letter said. The Obama administration axed the country from AGOA in December (see 1412230060).