This weekend marks forty years since the Stonewall riots, a major turning point in the movement to combat homophobia, transphobia and hatred and discrimination against LGBTI people. It has been commemorated as the moment in which the modern movement for rights for LGBTI people was born in the US.
We at MADRE have rooted our work on sexual rights firmly in a human rights framework. We have emphasized that the right to exercise and express sexuality, to be free from sexual violence and discrimination, and to make autonomous decisions about one’s body are human rights and are intrinsically linked with the full range of economic, social and political rights. And, as we in the US honor the struggles of the LGBTI movement, it is important to make the linkages with global efforts and movements.
Around the world, the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender and intersex people are under constant threat. In partnership with our sister organization Red Trans de Nicaragua (REDTRANS), MADRE has supported their work to create a strong and safe community. REDTRANS is a network of transvestite, transsexual, and transgender activists combating discrimination and violence, and working for access to health care as a basic human right. Together with REDTRANS, MADRE has distributed condoms, provided health consultations for women, and provided human rights trainings for activists. You can read their blog here.
A couple of weeks ago, we also received a communication from Mulabi, the Latin American Working Group on Sexual Rights, based in Argentina. They informed us that, after three years of advocacy by two dozen groups from seventeen countries, the Organization of American States (OAS) had approved a resolution on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity.
The coalition members fought to include a special focus on hate crimes and violence against people because of their sexual diversity. There are many examples from around the world that prove how tragically necessary is such a focus. The US occupation in Iraq has triggered an intensification of homophobic and transphobic attacks, with the Grand Ayatollah Sistani decreeing that anyone accused of "sodomy or lesbianism" should be killed "in the worst, most severe way possible." In March, a representative of an LGBTI organization in Colombia, who had devoted his work to documenting such violence, was murdered. In January, a travesti and her companion were caught by a “neighborhood watch group” in Peru and publicly physically humiliated—and the attack was featured on a TV news report.
So on this weekend, we honor the advances that have been made and commit ourselves to promote the rights of LGBTI people worldwide.
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