It took both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton several years and just as many attempts to properly and fully evolve on gay rights, but now that they have, it’s time for the United States to lead the way for other nations which might not be as enlightened. Enter U.N. Ambassador Susan Power, who took 17 of her colleagues to the Broadway musical “Fun Home,” centered on a young woman who has recently come out as a lesbian and discovers that her closeted father is also gay.
After the show, the ambassadors and cast members discussed LGBTI issues in a talk hosted by actress Cynthia Nixon, best known to many from the hit series “Sex and the City.”
UN ambassador Samantha Power takes trip to Broadway to promote gay rights https://t.co/emSEc0SkvB #gay #lgbt #rights
— Gay Rights News (@HappyRights) March 2, 2016
.@AmbassadorPower turns to @funhomemusical to promote LGBTI rights at the @UN. https://t.co/YsdBOlfNVr pic.twitter.com/PnjR16KyS9
— Playbill (@playbill) March 2, 2016
PIX: Cynthia Nixon hosts #LGBT post-show discussion at @funhomemusical with UN ambassadors → https://t.co/qVgm6Qfii9 pic.twitter.com/RtE17xgARS
— TheaterMania (@theatermania) March 2, 2016
UN turns to the groundbreaking @funhomemusical to teach ambassadors about the LGBT community https://t.co/LMD4EuYR8L pic.twitter.com/ay6w1S1jfv
— Blake Ross (@BlakeRossNY) March 2, 2016
The Independent reports that ambassadors representing Russia, Gabon and Namibia attended, along with envoys from the European Union, Australia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, El Salvador, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Uruguay and Vietnam.
A US ambassador took her Russian counterpart to see a Broadway play about closet gay people https://t.co/DJjnlD2rI5
— Dunja Mijatovic (@Dunja_Mijatovic) March 2, 2016
“Thank you for bringing this all home in a way that resolutions and statements never can,” Power reportedly told the cast following a Q&A session.
It’s nice to see a Broadway musical being employed as a tool of cultural diplomacy for a change. Last month, Secretary of State John Kerry did the predictable thing and met with the usual Hollywood suspects — including executives from NBCUniversal, Warner Bros., DreamWorks Animation, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Entertainment and the Walt Disney Co. — for advice on countering ISIS propaganda.
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Related:
#RefugeesWelcome: Samantha Power invites Syrian refugee family over for dinner and a photo-op
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