LGBT Rights

Freedom from Hate: Supporting LGBT Rights at Home and Abroad

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international treaties state that everyone should have equal protection under the law, but for people around the world whose sexual orientation or gender identity is different, they can be subjected to threats, attacks, incarceration and even death.

Here in the United States, the progress on LGBT issues has been slow, but has been gaining support. President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. This measure expands the 1969 US Federal Hate-Crimes Law to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

Work continues in Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity for civilian nonreligious employers with over 15 employees.

Additionally, during his 2010 State of the Union, President Obama called on Congress to repeal the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that prohibits gays and lesbians from serving in the Armed Forces of the United States. From 1994-2008, over 12,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines were discharged for their sexual orientation.

On the International Front

Now the Uganda legislature is considering the Anti-Homosexual Bill 2009, which would sentence homosexuals to life in prison, even, in one version, death. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has condemned this legislation as a “very serious potential violation of human rights.”

In a major human rights speech last month, Secretary Clinton spoke of the “many instances where there is a very serious assault on the physical safety" of gays and why it is important for the United States “to stand against that and enlist others in doing so.” Johnnie Carson, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, has since met with the Human Rights Campaign and more than thirty other advocacy organizations to discuss the legislation and make clear the U.S. government’s opposition to it.

The No Limits Foundation is committed to working with our allied organizations to continue raising awareness about the discrimination that still exists against LGBT people both here at home and abroad.

Resources

• Global Forum on MSM and HIV
• Uganda anti-homosexuality bill and Council on Global Equality
• Human Rights Watch