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U.N. says it’s not OK to kill people because they are gay

December 21st, 2010

NEW YORK – The United Nations General Assembly just voted on a crucial resolution on extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings that, for the first time, includes explicit language protecting LGBT people.

This resolution urges member states to thoroughly and promptly investigate all killings committed for any discriminatory reason, even on the basis of sexual orientation.

The vote was 93-55 with 27 abstentions.

The opposition mostly came from Arab and African nations where human rights are limited.

Last month, a General Assembly resolution opposed the unjustified killing of minority groups, including the LGBT community. It drew widespread criticism, and the United States lead the effort to amend the resolution.

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International LGBT Rights Organization Granted UN Consultative Status

July 20, 2010 By Antoine Craigwell

(New York, NY) – The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) was on Monday, Jul 19 granted consultative status in a vote by the full United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The vote for IGLHRC, by a US-led resolution, is the tenth organization working primarily for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) human rights to gain such status at the United Nations.

According to a press release issued by IGLHRC, Cary Alan Johnson, IGLHRC executive director, said, “Today’s decision is an affirmation that the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people have a place at the United Nations as part of a vital civil society community. The clear message here is that these voices should not be silenced and that human rights cannot be denied on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

With 23 in favor, 13 against, 13 abstentions and, five absences, the resolution passed. Notably, among the Caribbean nations, Bahamas and St. Kitts & Nevis voted against the resolution, with St. Lucia abstaining. Among the African countries, Egypt, Namibia, Niger, and Zambia were against, with Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique, and Rawanda abstaining, and with Cameroon, Congo and Guinea-Bissau absent from the vote. Venezuela was the only South American country on the ECOSOC to vote against, and surprisingly, given the advances in LGBT rights, India abstained from the vote.

The press release stated that this favorable vote comes after a lengthy three-year application process where, despite providing all the requirements, IGLHRC faced deferrals, homophobic questioning, and procedural roadblocks in the ECOSOC non-governmental organization (NGO) committee. The vote upended a “no action” vote in the NGO-committee, which seemed to be heading in the direction of a precedent that labeled organizations considered controversial from an opportunity to have their applications voted on, even after submitting to the required reviews. The IGLHRC vote followed a letter to all UN member states signed by more than 200 NGOs from 59 countries, which called for fair and non-discriminatory treatment of LGBT voices in the international arena.

Frank Mugisha, Chairperson of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), one of 13 NGOs from Uganda to publicly call for IGLHRC to be accredited, said, “As human rights defenders and LGBT people living in countries where homophobic discrimination is a daily reality, we celebrate the accreditation of IGLHRC at the UN. IGLHRC’s access to the UN means that we too will have greater access to international human-rights mechanisms that can prove invaluable to LGBT people’s lives.”


Cary Alan Johnson, executive director, IGLHRC

The IGLHRC press release announcing the favorable vote said that the United States supported the organization’s application, and called for a vote in both the NGO Committee and ECOSOC. The U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, publicly demonstrated her support for IGLHRC’s application. Also, 14 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and four Senators sent letters of support for IGLHRC to all member states, which included Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Congressman Howard Berman (D-CA), Chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

On the UN Website, details of the discussion preceding the vote, the U.S. representative said of IGLHRC that “by promoting the implementation of human rights treaties, it had already made a significant contribution to supporting the United Nations Charter and the work of the Council.  It had been a leader in the battle against HIV/AIDS, and had been praised by both the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).”

The unnamed U.S. representative said that the Committee on Non-governmental Organizations had refused for more than a decade to grant consultative status to any lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender civil society group, although the Council had acted to grant consultative status to seven such organizations whose applications had been rejected. Those seven Council decisions, she added, had firmly established the principle that a non-governmental organization’s support for gay and lesbian rights should not be a disqualifying factor in the NGO Committee’s decisions to grant consultative status. Unfortunately, she said, the Committee continued to act in complete disregard of the repeated guidance it had received from its parent body on the matter, and in denial of the established standards.

The vote in favor of IGLHRC means that the international LGBT human rights organization would now be able to participate more officially by attending meetings, submitting statements, and collaborating with the UN and governments on human rights in the international arena. The press release stated that IGLHRC, with a long history pushing for the rights of all people regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity, advocated for sexual rights to be included in the official discussions at the 1995 UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. In 2001, the organization spoke at the first UN General Assembly meeting on HIV and AIDS, and in recent years has been part of a collaboration between NGOs and supportive States that resulted in the groundbreaking 2008 UN General Assembly Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, which was signed by 67 member states.

Toni Reis, president of the Brazilian LGBT group, Associação Brasileira de Lésbicas, Gays, Bissexuais, Travestis e Transexuais (ABGLT), which received consultative status in 2009, said, “We celebrate this decision. It is crucial that LGBT NGOs have the opportunity to participate in the UN human rights debate – though in future, organizations should receive full and fair reviews before the NGO Committee itself.”

Broken out, the votes were as follows: In favor: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Malta, Norway, Peru, Poland, Rep. of Korea, Slovenia, United Kingdom, United States, and Uruguay. Those against included Bangladesh, China, Comoros, Egypt, Malaysia, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Pakistan, Russian Fed., Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Zambia. Countries abstaining from the vote were Bahamas, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, India, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Philippines, Rep. of Moldova, Rwanda, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Turkey, and Ukraine. The five countries that were absent for the vote included Cameroon, Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, and Saint Lucia.

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TAKE ACTION: Stop the harassment of University of Michigan's gay student assembly president

TAKE ACTION: Stop the harassment of University of Michigan's gay student assembly president
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZySBHFASRQE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
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Taking it to the streets from Kaytee Riek on Vimeo.


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Dire Consequences

Video By: David Matthew Gins
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OUTmusic Awards on World AIDS Day

outmusic_awards_nyc_2010

(1888PressRelease) October 18, 2010 - New York, New York - The LGBT Academy of Recording Arts (LARA) Chairwoman Diedra Meredith announces today that the biggest night in LGBT entertainment will take place on December 1, 2010 on World AIDS Day. The annual OUTmusic Awards will celebrate 20 years of music history in the heart of Times Square at Town Hall NYC (123 West 43rd Street). The OUTmusic Awards celebrates honors and documents the contributions of openly LGBT recording artists and performers in the music industry.


This year, the awards are being held on World AIDS Day to bring attention the increasing number of homeless youth being affected with HIV/AIDS daily. Currently, there is close to 2.5 million homeless people (40 percent LGBT identified) between the ages of 13-25 in America. In advocating for equality in the music industry, the organization is "creating the CHANGE we want to see" with the launch of its Sponsor A Young Person's Initiative. The Sponsor A Young Person Initiative is a series of PSA that include both mainstream and LGBT celebrities, entertainers, musicians and "real" people who work tirelessly daily to help and support homeless youth abandon by their family and love ones. The foundation will put a spotlight on the Next 20 years to celebrate and uplift the NEXT generation. Additional details and participates of the Sponsor A Young Person Initiatives will be announced later this month.


In advocating for equality in the music industry, the organization is "creating the CHANGE we want to see" with the launch of its Sponsor A Young Person's Initiative. The Sponsor A Young Person Initiative is a series of PSA that include both mainstream and LGBT celebrities, entertainers, musicians and "real" people who work tirelessly daily to help and support homeless youth abandon by their family and love ones. The foundation will put a spotlight on the Next 20 years to celebrate and uplift the NEXT generation.

December 1, 2010 World AIDS Day Town Hall NYC W. 43rd Street In The Heart of Times Square! www.outmusicawards.com and Full Press Release
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Global Justice for LGBTQI people includes giving a basic education to the most impoverished people of the world

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948 states: "Everyone has the right to education [and] education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages." But today, over 72 million children in the world's poorest countries do not attend school, more than half of them girls. Although there has been progress in getting children into school, universal primary completion remains low. Approximately one billion people have had less than four years of schooling and two-thirds of these people are women and girls. All school-age children must start school this year if we are to meet the world's commitment of universal primary completion by 2015.

Many countries with low enrolment rates are also those hardest hit by AIDS. In fact, the HIV epidemic itself is devastating struggling school systems-killing teachers and administrators, increasing absenteeism, and lowering productivity, all of which increase costs and undermine educational quality. Education correlates directly to safer behavior and reduced infection rates, and experts agree that education ranks among the most effective-and cost-effective-means of HIV prevention. The Global Campaign for Education estimates that if all children completed primary school, as many as 700,000 cases of HIV could be prevented each year.

This fall as we loaded our kids onto school busses across the U.S., we think of the 72 million children who are not in school around the world. As we take our children to get their physicals to play sports and their vaccinations, we are reminded of the infants born to illiterate mothers who never see their 5th birthday because of HIV infection, tuberculosis, malaria, and not enough access to food and clean water. Access to education would improve the lives of these children.

We can change that. The Education for All Act would position education as a priority for U.S. foreign policy and commits the U.S. to achieving quality universal basic education. The bill places particular emphasis on girls, orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS, children in rural areas, religious and ethnic minorities, disabled children, child laborers, and victims of violence and trafficking. Education has a critical role in international development and diplomacy at large. By ensuring that more children can experience a stable education like ours in the U.S., we would be taking steps toward creating a better future for all future generations.

Please take a minute and visit this link and click "participate"
It will walk you through a few steps (5 mins) that will email a letter to the editor to all your local newspapers

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Tell us what it means to be “human”!

We need your help to document One Day on Earth - October 10, 2010 (10.10.10)!

Human Rights Watch, together with 60 other organizations including Oxfam and the American Red Cross, is asking people around the world to help document life on earth during a 24-hour period (10.10.10), by creating videos that will live forever in a global archive (and may be used in a documentary).

We want you to shoot and upload short videos to illustrate the human rights we value or the abuses we face. We're asking you to show us the human in human rights - and by you we mean researchers, associates, directors, interns, activists, supporters and anyone else with an interest in these issues. For more specific guidelines and suggestions, visit our page (though the information is also pasted below).

Please forward this e-mail to everybody you know, especially partners and activists around the world––we want the broadest participation possible. You don’t need a high-def video camera to take part––shooting on a cell phone can work just as well. And for those without a stable internet connection, you can drop your video off at UNDP locations in 100 countries (www.101010untransport.org). E-mail us if you need more specific information regarding your country.

The footage gathered might be used in a feature film made by One Day on Earth, the non-profit organizing this event, as well as a short film created for Human Rights Watch. All the videos will also live in perpetuity on One Day in Earth’s global archive.

Click here (http://www.onedayonearth.org/page/human-rights-watch to learn how to submit video and for more information.

Once again, please forward this on to your contacts, wherever they may be.

Thanks,
Emma, Jim and Amy


CALL TO ACTION:

Tell us what it means to be “human”!


On October 10th, Human Rights Watch asks you to help us put a face to the human rights issue that confront us. Take the day to reflect on what human rights mean to you, and to society in general, and make a video that expresses your vision. Footage that you create will potentially be used in a feature film, as well as a short film created for Human Rights Watch and will live in perpetuity on One Day in Earth’s global archive.

Guidelines

1. Consider the question: what makes us human? Is it your ability to express yourself? To make decisions? To love? To vote? To go to school? To ask officials for help without paying a bribe, regardless of your ethnic group or religion? To express your gender or sexual orientation freely? What’s most important to you?
2. Answer this question to camera. Consider placing yourself in a location relevant to your answer.
3. Feel free to go further. Visually document the basic human rights that you enjoy, or the human rights that are being denied to you, or to others. Seek out images or interviews related to the topic of human rights.
4. Learn more about human rights-visit us at www.hrw.org, read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and share the information with your friends.
5. When you upload your video please be sure to tag it “HRW”.
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