On June 1st of every year woke US corporations replace their social media avatars with rainbow-LGBTQIA pride month flags.
Except for their Middle Eastern accounts.
The US Embassy in Kuwait on Thursday however, shared a pro-LGBTQIA tweet.
The government of Kuwait quickly summoned Charge d’Affaires James Holtsnider after the US Embassy tweeted about pride month.
“All human beings should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear no matter who they are or whom they love,” the tweet read, quoting Joe Biden.
“The president is a champion for the human rights of #LGBTQI persons.” the tweet read.
“All human beings should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear no matter who they are or whom they love.” @POTUS is a champion for the human rights of #LGBTQI persons. #Pride2022 #YouAreIncluded pic.twitter.com/gdPPBDlHZH
— U.S. Embassy Kuwait (@USEmbassyQ8) June 2, 2022
The Twitter account also posted a message in Arabic which was viewed as a huge insult to the country’s Islamic law.
دفاعاً عن حقوق الإنسان لأفراد مجتمع الميم، قال الرئيس بايدن: "يستحق كلّ الناس الاحترام والكرامة والقدرة على العيش دون خوف بغض النظر عمن هم أو من يحبون." pic.twitter.com/YptuptZJE6
— U.S. Embassy Kuwait (@USEmbassyQ8) June 2, 2022
A top Kuwaiti official lashed out at the US Embassy for celebrating gay pride in a country ruled by Islamic law.
“Foreign embassies must respect the public order of Kuwait and its official religion: The behavior of the American embassy is unacceptable, and a “repeated” departure from the principles of diplomatic work, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has the responsibility to stop and control.” the official said according to English translation of his Arabic text.
“Changing the “names” of things does not change their reality!” he said.
على السفارات الأجنبية احترام النظام العام للكويت ودينها الرسمي:
سلوك السفارة الأمريكية مرفوض، وخروج ”متكرر“ عن أصول العمل الدبلوماسي، على وزارة الخارجية مسؤولية وقفه وضبطه.
تغيير ”أسماء“ الأشياء لا يغير حقيقتها! https://t.co/S6jJHpPsTp
— أسامة الشاهين (@OALSHAHEEN) June 2, 2022
Kuwait summoned a top US Diplomat and issued him a memo disavowing the tweet.
NBC News reported:
Kuwait summoned a top U.S. diplomat Thursday over tweets from the American Embassy expressing support for LGBTQ rights, the country’s foreign ministry said.
In a tweet Thursday morning, the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait celebrated the start of Pride Month, sharing a message from President Joe Biden in support of LGBTQ rights.
In the hours after the post went up, the Kuwaiti ministry of foreign affairs rejected the sentiments shared in the tweet, saying it had summoned Charge d’Affaires James Holtsnider and given him a memorandum disavowing the post.
The memorandum stressed “the need for the embassy to respect the laws and regulations in force in the State of Kuwait and the obligation not to publish such tweets,” the foreign ministry said, pointing to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, which provides a framework for diplomatic relations between states.