The Obama administration has announced that it will use the supply of aid as well as diplomacy as a tool to improve gay and lesbian rights around the world.
In a speech in Geneva, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted gay rights were equivalent to all other basic human rights, but acknowledged the United State's own record was imperfect, the BBC reports.
"It should never be a crime to be gay," she told her audience, which included representatives from countries where homosexuality is a criminal offence.
Ms Clinton added that a country's cultural or religious traditions was no excuse for discrimination.
"Gay people are born into and belong to every society in the world," Mrs Clinton said in Geneva. "Being gay is not a Western invention. It is a human reality."
The announcement, cited by the White House as the "first US government strategy to combat human rights abuses against gays and lesbians abroad", is also being seen as part of the Obama administration's outreach to gays and lesbians ahead of the 2012 election.
The BBC reports a memo from the Obama administration directs US government agencies to consider gay rights when making aid and asylum decisions.
Similar policies already exist for gender equality and ethnic violence.
