UN Secretary-General praises Conchita Wurst's gay rights fight

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hosted the Austrian winner of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, Conchita Wurst as she sang for hundreds of UN staff, diplomats, and members of civil society.

Speaking at the event the Secretary-General said he knew Wurst was the star of the world when she won the Eurovision Song Contest and turned her victory into an electrifying moment of human rights education. The Secretary-General said: "Conchita is promoting respect for diversity …. She confounds people's preconceived ideas of gender and sexuality - and she appeals to them to accept her as she is. That is a powerful message." Read More

Iran Representative to the UN: Under no circumstances do we recognize the rights of homosexual citizens

During the UN session of the 2014 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Iran, member states presented a total of 291 recommendations to the Islamic Republic of Iran, including 11 that addressed sexual minorities.

As an example, Iceland recommended repealing laws that criminalise consensual same-sex sexual relations; amend laws and policies that treat homosexuality as a mental disorder and outlaw forced sterilisation and reparative therapies against LGBT individuals. 

In response, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the Head of the Human Rights Council of the Judiciary in Iran, stated that under no circumstances will the Islamic Republic of Iran “accept imposing a lifestyle under the banner or umbrella of human rights”, indicating that the lifestyle of LGBT individuals in no circumstances or arguments can be legitimized and justified. Read More

Abuse, self-stigma revealed by ground-breaking Caribbean study

Conducted by the UNAIDS Caribbean Regional Support Team in collaboration with Sigma Research of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, The Caribbean Men’s Internet Survey (CARIMIS) is the region’s largest study of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men as well as the first such survey to be conducted online.

While many respondents experienced homophobic abuse and negative self-perception, others were open about their sexuality and proactive about their sexual health. Read More

UNAIDS to Launch HIV Testing Campaign Across Africa in World Record Bid

The UN will conduct a multi-country HIV testing campaign in Africa to mark this year's World AIDS Day under the leadership of African national governments in close collaboration with the regional support team for Eastern and Southern Africa (RST ESA) from UNAIDS, civil society organisations, and other regional and international partners.
 
The initiative is seeking to break the Guinness World Record for the most number of free HIV tests carried out in multiple areas in one day. The record is currently held by Argentina, which conducted 3,733 free HIV tests in a single eight-hour period in Rosario city in commemoration of the 2012 World AIDS Day.  Read More

Sri Lanka tells the United Nations that LGBTIs are protected in its constitution

Representatives of the Government of Sri Lanka have admitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee that LGBTI people are protected under its constitution – though they maintain their country’s anti-sodomy law is not discriminatory. Read More

UNAIDS plan to “Fast Track” the end of AIDS

Fast Track, the strategy to end AIDS by 2030, was outlined by UNAIDS at a side event to the United Nations General Assembly. The strategy calls to protect the human rights of people involved in commercial sex work, transgender individuals, people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, and  young women and girls to live without fear and access means of harm reduction and health services.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry embraced the strategy at the event where UNAIDS Director Michel Sidibe, along with Swiss Confederation President Didier Burkhalter, Ghana President John Dramani Mahama, and South Africa President Jacob Zuma described it. Read More

UN passes resolution on behalf of LGBT citizens around the globe

The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a landmark resolution for LGBT rights on Sept 26, the second-ever motion of its kind. Passed by a 25-14 vote margin after more than an hour of debate, it condemns violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity across the globe. 

“We are pleased to see that today the international community is visibly and publicly upholding the rights of LGBT individuals, and thereby we demonstrate ourselves as a global community respecting the rights of all,” said Ambassador Keith Harper, who represents the U.S. on the U.N. Human Rights Council. 

Still, since the resolution comes with no enforcement capability — it simply calls for a report from the U.N. High Commissioner on LGBT rights abuses — it will likely largely be seen as a symbolic gesture, albeit it one that the U.N. has largely failed to make in the past. This resolution is only the second time the U.N. Human Rights Council has referred to LGBT rights as “human rights.” Read More

The Free and Equal campaign is 1 year old… 1 billion rising

A year ago, the United Nations Human Rights Office launched an unprecedented global public education campaign for lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender rights: Free & Equal. This inspiring video tells the story of what happened next. 

The Closeted Continent

38 out of 55 African nations have laws punishing sodomy. And things may get worse before they get better.

The progress for LGBT equality has been powered by an increasingly potent global gay rights movement driven by major international organizations like Human Rights Campaign and the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission, as well as smaller grassroots gay groups that have sprouted up (or, in some cases, chosen to work underground for fear of activists' safety) in many dozens of countries worldwide.

Elsewhere in the world, though, signs of momentum in the global gay rights struggle are fueling a determined effort to slam the closet door though legal measures, harassment, and violence. Read More 

After new UNAIDS poll: Way clear for PM to revisit gays issue

The path is now clear for Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to “very easily” go back to Parliament and amend the Equal Opportunity Act to protect people from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation. So said attorney Douglas Mendes following the launch of the results of a UNAIDS poll that showed a majority of T&T citizens are against discrimination.

He said amending the act would send a clear message to the population, the region and the international community that T&T did not discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation.  Read More

High Commissioner al Hussein delivers his inaugural address to the UN Human Rights Council.

He prefaced his written remarks with statement, during which he said: "There is no justification ever, for the degrading, the debasing, or the exploitation of other human beings – on whatever basis: nationality, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age or caste."

After the High Commissioner's remarks, Allied Rainbow Communities International delivered their first UN statement since achieving ECOSOC accreditation, and highlighted the importance of addressing sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and intersex issues.  Read the pdf statement here.