The Trump administration met with numerous activists in Europe this week as part of a worldwide effort to decriminalize being LGBTQ. In many countries, being LGBTQ can lead to imprisonment — and in some cases, death. 

The initiative, as first reported on by NBC News, began with a summit dinner at the U.S. embassy in Berlin. Leading it was the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, who is the Trump administration’s highest-profile out gay member. 

“It is concerning that, in the 21st century, some 70 countries continue to have laws that criminalize LGBTI status or conduct,” an anonymous U.S. official connected to the campaign told NBC News. The initiative has been years in the making, reportedly. 

“This is longstanding and it’s bipartisan,” a spokesperson told People magazine, echoing what the department’s deputy spokesperson, Richard Palladino, told reporters:  “This really is not a big policy departure.” 

The Trump administration apparently believes it can further ostracize Iran, who recently reportedly executed a gay man, and rally European support against the Middle Eastern country — a consistent target of President Trump.

“This is not the first time the Iranian regime has put a gay man to death with the usual outrageous claims of prostitution, kidnapping, or even pedophilia. And it sadly won’t be the last time,” Richard Grenell wrote in one of Germany’s leading newspapers last month, according to NBC. “Barbaric public executions are all too common in a country where consensual homosexual relationships are criminalized and punishable by flogging and death.”

During his presidential campaign, Trump made himself an early outlier from other leading Republicans with his unusually soft rhetoric about the LGBTQ community.

At his speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention, he vowed: “I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology.”

Meanwhile, Trump is targeting the trans community by banning them from serving in the military. Since taking office, Trump has largely sided with his conservative base on LGBTQ issues.

Is this political talk, or do you think it’s genuine?