When the Dalai Lama came to Washington two years ago, he was feted with the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, as President George W. Bush and a bipartisan delegation looked on.

But as the exiled Tibetan leader returns for another visit to the nation’s capital next week (Oct. 5-10), there is a White House-sized hole in his itinerary. President Obama will not meet with the Dalai Lama, breaking a precedent that dates to President George H.W. Bush in 1991. Obama will not convene with the famed Buddhist monk until after the president returns from a summit in Beijing in November, the administration has said.

The perceived snub has angered human rights advocates, who say it reflects an early pattern in Obama’s foreign policy to sideline religious freedom in favor of other issues like trade and climate change.

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