There are also many other unintended yet negative consequences of promoting gay rights abroad, including, most notably, putting at risk the very lives that international gay-rights promoters are seeking to improve. Media reports noted a spike in homophobic legislation and antigay violence in several African countries following Clinton’s calls for the end of anti-gay discrimination. Attempts by the West to export gay rights, especially across Africa, also often play directly into the hands of local politicians eager to brand gay rights as “foreign values” and to rationalize their anti-gay policies as a defense against “Western influences.” Ironically, in some African countries, the laws criminalizing homosexuality are actually a legacy of British colonialism in other words, a direct product of Western influence.
So what is the West to do? The most sensible approach would be to fortify existing programs to promote democracy, civil society, and the rule of law. These programs have a twofold advantage over more targeted policies aimed at promoting gay rights: First, these programs are less likely to be attacked as “foreign meddling.” Second, and even more important, a robust democracy provides the best environment for nurturing the rise of gay rights