Human Rights and Sexual Identity

2. Human Rights and Sexual Identity The Rights of the • LGBT • Community

3. Historical Approach (1) • Greek Culture: love among perfect • beings • Sappho, Greek lyric poet born on Lesbos, • died on 570 BCE. Recognised as one of • the nine lyric poets of the Greek civilization. • Famous for singing to lesbian relationships, • Lesbianism comes from the Greek root • Exiled c. 600 BCE.

4. Historical Approach (2) • Justinian I (527–565) legally blame • homosexuals for natural disasters and plagues • The Visigoths invaded Rome and convert to • Catholicism • Conversion promotes a revision of the law • And legalisation for the persecution of gays • and Jewsstarted.

5. Religion (1) Council of Elvira, in 305- 306 barred pederasts the right to Communion. WCH Council of Ankara, 314 . This council was representative of the ECH no Sacraments for 15 years to unmarried men under the age of 20 who were caught in homosexual acts, and for life if he was married and over the age of 50. Emperor Constantinus -342 – The first law against same-sex marriage was promulgated In the year 390, the Christian emperor Theodosius I declared homosexual sex to be illegal and those who were guilty of it were condemned to be burned alive in front of the public.

6. Psychology No studies before the 19th century. Efforts to understand human sexual behavior came from European doctors and scientists. Sigmund Freud and Magnus Hirschfield. Sympathetic to the concept of a homosexual or bisexual orientation occurring naturally in an identifiable segment of humankind, Freud himself did not consider homosexuality an illness or a crime

7. Second World War (1) Formation of Hitler's Philosophy finished former tolerance Hirschfield's great library was destroyed and the books burnt by Nazis on May 10, 1933 England’s position always very conservative Against gay and lesbian writers such as Oscar Wilde and Radclyffe Hall

8. Second World War (2) USA, attempts were made to create advocacy groups supporting gay and lesbian relationships until after World War II Greenwich Village and Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. World War II allowed formerly isolated gay men and women to meet as soldiers, war workers, and other volunteers

9. Historical Approach (3) Early 1950s: Persecution of Senator Joseph McCarthyagainst communists, gays and lesbian. Prohibition of civil servants’ jobs, expulsion form there. Resulted on the first American-based political demands for fair treatment in mental health, public policy, and employment.

10. First Organisations The first lesbian support network: Daughters of Bilitis, founded in 1955 by Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin (USA) The Mattachine Society, founded in 1950 by Harry Hay and Chuck Rowland was the first gay men organisation sustaining the identification of that minority as an oppressed cultural minority

11. Stonewall Inn • 28 June 1969 • New York's Greenwich Village • Commemoration Gay Pride Day

12. (2) 1980 and AIDS • Initial campaigns for funding and compassion • Renewed coalitions between men and women as • 1987/ 1993 marches on Washington with no less than • 1 million gay rights supporters. • Call for an end to military expulsion of gay and • lesbian soldiers • "Don't Ask, Don't Tell“ • Alternative to military witch hunts and dishouno- • -rable discharges

13. (2) UN (1945) • Charter of the United Nations encourages • “Respect for human rights and for fundamental • freedoms for all without distinction” • Universal Declaration of Human Rights Art. 2: • "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms • set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of • any kind."

14. (2) December 9, 2010 • U.N. Secretary-General spoke at a Ford Foundation • event in New York City entitled, "Speak Up, Stop • Discrimination." • The event honored human rights defenders but in • this speech, Ban called for individuals to stand up for • the rights of all and specifically referred to defending • the rights of people jailed for their sexual orientation.

15. (2) April 6, 2011 • The OHCHR, UNDP, UNAIDS, and the World Health • Organization (WHO) published a brochure titled • "The United Nations Speaks Out: Tackling Discrimination • on Grounds of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity." • This brochure cites statements that have been made • by U.N. senior officials and human rights experts • regarding LGBT rights — including statements from • the U.N. Secretary General and the U.N. HCHR.

16. Dec. 6, 2011 • Hillary Clinton, United States Secretary of State • stated that “one of the remaining human rights • challenges before the world today is guaranteeing • the equality and dignity of members of the LGBT • community. She called LGBT community the • "invisible minority," whose human rights were in • jeopardy throughout the world

17. December 15, 2011 • OHCHR released its first report on the human • rights of LGBT persons. • The report details the worldwide manifestations • of discrimination based on sexual orientation, noting • that violence against LGBT persons has a history of • hate-motivated violence, such as discrimination in • work, health care, education, detention and torture.

18. Human Rights Council • 85 countries signed on to a statement calling for • the decriminalization of homosexuality in March 2012. • Subsequently, a resolution initiated by South Africa • was passed in June 2012 and became the first U.N. • resolution calling for support of gay rights.

19. Human Rights Council • The resolution expressed "grave concern at acts of violence • and discrimination, in all regions of the world, committed • against individuals because of their sexual orientation and • gender identity.“ • Consensual same-sex relations are illegal in 76 countries • worldwide

20. Human Rights Council • Yes U.S., European Union, Brazil and other Latin – • American countries. • No Russia, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Pakistan. • China, Burkina Faso and Zambia abstained • 23 votes in favor and 19 against

21. Miriam Estrada-Castillo Professor miriam.estrada@rwi.lu.se The previous slides are excerpts from Dr Miriam Estrada-Castillo New Book “ Gender and Human Rights : Brief analysis of its Principles, Concepts, and Theories from the International Legal Perspective” Kindly quote if copied.