Brit to US Come Out of Your Closet

A former high-ranking official of the British government urged LGBT Americans to come out of their "national closet" and join others around the world in pressing to protect gay populations under siege in places like Uganda, Jamaica, and Eastern Europe.

Phillipa Drew, a former British government official and an out lesbian, spoke during a panel at the 25th annual International Gay and Lesbian Leadership Conference in San Francisco, where she heralded the role the United States could play on the world stage, provided the country's LGBT leaders would "come out of your national closet and join us."

The panel took place Friday afternoon, according to GayPolitics.com. It was moderated by Julie Dorf of the Council for Global Equality, with participants that included Drew; Klaus Wowereit, the gay mayor of Berlin; former U.S. ambassador Michael Guest; former U.S. congressman Jim Kolbe; and Cary Alan Johnson, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.