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The White House on Monday declined to say whether President Obama plans to discuss Jamaica’s LGBT rights record with the country’s prime minister during his visit to the island next month.Ned Price, spokesperson for the National Security Council, told the Washington Blade that “protecting universal human rights is at the core of U.S. foreign policy.”“We are committed to advancing human rights for all, including LGBT individuals,” he said. “Indeed, we routinely raise issues of anti-LGBT discrimination and violence with foreign counterparts, including the Jamaican government.”Obama on April 9 is scheduled to co-chair a meeting of CARICOM heads of states in Jamaica alongside Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie, who chairs the Caribbean trade bloc. The president will also hold what a press release described as “bilateral discussions on a range of issues of mutual interest” with Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller before they and other CARICOM heads of state travel to Panama for the Summit of the Americas.“The government of Jamaica is delighted that President Obama will be visiting Jamaica at this time,” said Simpson-Miller in a statement her government released, noting Obama will be the second American president to visit her country since it declared its independence from
