Kuwait officials displeased with the U.S. embassy’s support of Pride month. On Thursday morning the American embassy in Kuwait shared a message on their official twitter celebrating pride month. The tweet calls Biden a champion for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. Even including a quote where Biden expresses his support for people’s right to love whoever they want to love.
In the hours that followed, Kuwait’s foreign ministry of defense released a statement denouncing the tweet. While also announcing that they’d summoned a top American embassy official to give him a memorandum rejecting the post.
Kuwaiti authorities referenced international guidelines of diplomacy in the memorandum. Before asking U.S. embassy officials to respect their laws and customs by not producing similar tweets in the future.
In addition to outlawing homosexuality, Kuwait also has a strict moral code that often is used to persecute the LGBTQ+ community. Men that are caught engaging in sexual activities with other men face up to 7 years in prison. Polish Instagram personality “King Luxy” was arrested in Kuwait following accusations that he looked too feminine and had to spend 2 weeks in prison in 2017.
The U.S. initially opened a consulate in Kuwait in 1951 that gained embassy status once the country secured its independence 10 years later.
The embassy has yet to delete the tweet.