OutRight, an LGBTI rights organization, just wrapped up
their advocacy week with the Out-Summit conference. I was privileged to be a part of this. After studying Human Rights in Thailand my
interest in international human rights deepened. Volunteering with OutRight
gave me an opportunity to meet LGBTI activist from all over the world, hear
their stories, their work and get to know them personally. It gave me an
opportunity to satisfy being a part of the human rights movement at the United
Nations level. Now that I’m back home
I’m processing this experience, looking at what I can do next to further LGBTI
rights globally.
The LGBTI activist starting coming in on Monday, some were
seasoned travelers others had never been out of their country. Meeting a transwomen from Fiji and Turkey,
lesbians from Kenya and Sri Lanka, and gay men from Russia and Indonesia at the
airport was like a family union. We
instantly bonded over who we are, as well as our goals for human rights. These bounds lasted for the rest of the time
we were together. Through meetings and
workshops their daily struggles came out with how they counteract these
struggles with daily activism both in their community and in their country.
Luckily, I got invited to several United Nations’ meetings,
the E.U. Mission, the Equal Rights Committee and the LGBTI Core Group. Of all these I thought the Equal Rights
Committee would cover their work with LGBTI rights in depth and the information
on the status of LGBTI people around the world more extensive. I couldn’t have been more wrong. At the E.U. Mission meeting the room was packed
with LGBTI activist and many member states of the E.U. The E.U. Mission listened to the activists
questions and suggestions. The questions
were answered in depth by staff members from many state members of the
E.U. Activist engaged in conversations
about E.U.’s global human rights work. I
left this meeting inspired, full of hope for the work ahead.
The Equal Rights Committee of the United Nations took place
at the Canadian Mission. They led us
into a great conference room with snacks laid out for us. At this meeting only the two chairs of the
committee attended along with all of us activist. The dialog couldn’t have been more different,
leaving all of us confused when we left.
We all went on to meetings, training sessions or took time to grab some
free time. All we could do is move on
and keep up with the work we came to New York and United Nations to do.
After these two meetings I was invited to attend the United
Nations LGBTI’s Core Group the next day.
We met early in front of the UN.
They handed out our visitor passes.
When everyone arrived, we got in line.
Taking it all in when I entered the halls of the UN I became speechless.
Looking at the history on the walls a picture of Eleanor Roosevelt holding the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights a moment that changed history when the UN
became real. The LGBTI Core Group
meeting reviewed the past weeks of meetings reporting on a mix of positive and
hard conversations. So glad the LGBTI Core Group at the UN exists.
Karamo Brown of Queer Eye a key speaker at the Out Summit
conference gave the opening address. He summed
up our role in the struggle for LGBTI human rights around the world. He said our stories are a gift to others who
want to grow and build a better world. He
said our stories are a roadmap to the courage for those who want to do this
work. These words captured the essence
of what we expressed in past week and continued in the workshops of Out Summit.
It didn’t matter whether you were a seasoned LGBTI activist
like me, or someone new to the movement the personal stories from activist gave
us inspiration, gave us courage to carry on with the work of demanding freedom
to live our lives with respect. These
stories identified the common thread we have in our lives. We all were at some place on the continuum of
the road to freedom. Those of us in the
USA told stories of getting married, the LGBTI from Egypt talked about being
afraid for their life living as an LGBTI person every day. The gay man from Lebanon shared inroads to
building a movement and the transwoman from Turkey talked about how repressive
acts make it hard to have a stable life.
All of this confirms that LGBTI rights are now a global movement. A lot of the struggles don’t get into the
media partly for security reasons, peoples’ lives are in danger if their identity
were to revealed and their struggles become headline news anywhere in the For us in the US its important to support
international human rights movements and actions. OutRight an international LGBTI organization
that sponsored the Advocacy Week and OutSummit conference is the only LGBTIQ organization
that has a permanent presence to advocate at the United Nations. For more information to by some chance if you
want to donate and be a part of the global human rights movement for LGBTI here
is a link to their website. https://www.outrightinternational.org/
world.
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