Question

In your own words, what progress has the LGBTQ community made in the past few decades? What work is left to do?

Answer 1

There’s been enormous progress globally and locally. It’s important to note that the fight for LGBT rights is not a Western phenomenon; many of the governments at the forefront of the defence of LGBT rights are from the developing world. The historic LGBT resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council, adopted in September 2014, was led by governments from the global south, primarily Latin America, and backed by others from all over the world, including South Africa. Even governments usually opposed to human rights enforcement, such as Cuba, Venezuela and Vietnam, supported it.

Broader changes in society have driven some of the greater recognition of LGBT rights, such as more equitable relations between genders, the rights revolution generally and the greater respect for individual autonomy. Within that context, you saw the LGBT population gradually coming out, so people suddenly discovered that they had a three lettered G-word,” brother or son or neighbour or close colleague, which started shaping public perception and reinforced the social changes.

It’s easy for bigotry to exist in a context of ignorance, but when you’re being bigoted toward a close friend or neighbour, you start thinking: “Maybe LGBT people are really just people; maybe I should recognize their rights. Why can’t they love whom they choose, just like I can?” Yet the lingering fear of ‘the other’ is also applicable to some of the other trends we see in this year’s Outlook on the Global Agenda – like increasing nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment.

There is no doubt 2013 is the year of greatest accomplishments for the LGBT movement. From marriage equality victories to the red logo campaign that made Facebook history, from the U.S. Senate vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to a meteoric rise in public opinion, made extraordinary gains in the fight for equality for LGBT people.

Global Momentum for Marriage Equality Grows:

In the United States, millions of Americans celebrated a landmark Supreme Court ruling in June that made nationwide marriage equality the law of the land. A month earlier, 62 percent of Irish voters voted ‘yes’ in the first-ever referendum for marriage equality in the world. Same-sex couples in Ireland began tying the knot in November. In June, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that state bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional, paving the way for a court-based legal strategy to compel states without marriage equality to clear the way for same-sex marriages. Both Cyprus and Chile passed civil union legislation in 2015 but stopped short of full marriage equality.

U.S. Appoints Special LGBTI Envoy:

The United States became the first country in the world to have a dedicated senior government official whose mandate is to advance LGBT rights and equality around the world. The U.S. government appointed Randy Berry, an accomplished career foreign service officer, as its first-ever special envoy for LGBTI human rights.

Nepal’s New Constitution Protects LGBT Citizens:

In September, Nepal became the first Asian nation, and one of a handful in world, to include protections for LGBT people in its new constitution. Nepal has set an example for giant neighbors like India and China, where LGBT people are offered limited legal rights and face discrimination and harassment.

Transgender Recognition Laws Gain Ground Globally:

In April, lawmakers in Malta unanimously adopted a groundbreaking bill that recognizes the fundamental rights of transgender, intersex and genderqueer people. Similarly, Ireland passed a law in July that allows transgender people to change their gender without legal or medical certification. Thailand’s government passed a gender equality law in September that provides protections from discrimination on the grounds of gender identity. Vietnam followed suit and passed a law in November protecting transgender people and legalizing gender reassignment surgery. Bolivian lawmakers voted in December to allow adult transgender people to legally change their name and gender on government documents.

Hateful Anti-LGBT Law Struck Down in Kazakhstan:

In May, the Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan invalidated on technical grounds a proposed Russian-style “anti-propaganda” bill that would have criminalized LGBT human rights advocacy. Kazakhstan’s senate had passed the bill in February and it had been awaiting the president’s signature. However, the bill may still be reintroduced by anti-LGBT elements in the government.  

Ukraine Outlaws Anti-LGBT Workplace Discrimination:

Ukraine’s parliament took a step towards preventing anti-LGBT discrimination in the workplace in November by passing workplace nondiscrimination legislation as part of a series of reforms aimed at securing Ukrainian citizens visa-free travel privileges to the European Union.

Mozambique Decriminalizes Homosexuality:

Mozambique decriminalized homosexuality in June by introducing a new penal code that scrapped Portuguese era colonial prohibitions on homosexuality. The revision of the penal code was a monumental victory for LGBT activists. However, the Mozambican government continues to deny recognition to Lambda, the country’s leading LGBT rights organization.

United Nations Pushes for LGBT Human Rights:

The United Nations, under the leadership of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, continued to be a staunch ally in the fight for equality in 2015. In June, the U.N. human rights office released a landmark report on the state of LGBT rights around the world. The report noted substantial progress on LGBT equality, while highlighting the violence, criminalization and discrimination that LGBT people continue to face in every region of the world.

Existing challenges of LGBTQ community

Discrimination

“One of the main things we are doing is fighting against the post-marriage backlash,” said Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

That has happened mainly at the state level, where more than 200 anti-L.G.B.T. bills have been introduced so far this year, said Russell Roybal, the deputy executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force.

Many state officials have used a religious freedom argument to support denying services to L.G.B.T. people.

“In a lot of places, you can go to your county clerk and get a marriage license and get married and then get fired the next week because now you are openly three lettered G-word,”

Twenty nine states lack anti-discrimination laws that include sexual orientation or gender identity, and there is no federal law protecting access to employment, housing and public accommodation, like hotels or restaurants, for L.G.B.T. people

A North Carolina law passed in March made it illegal for transgender people to use public restrooms that match their gender identity. The law drew condemnation from many artists, who boycotted the state, and from some companies, which canceled plans to do business there.

Mississippi also drew swift criticism for a law allowing business owners to refuse service to three lettered G-word,”men, lesbians and others based on the owners’ religious beliefs.

Violence

“Violence in our community is a big problem,” said Beverly Tillery, the executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project, which studies anti-L.G.B.T. violence and aids survivors.

“Ultimately there is still the feeling for some people that L.G.B.T. people are less than and don’t matter, and that it is O.K. to commit acts of violence against them.”

There were 24 reported bias-motivated killings of L.G.B.T. people in 2015, a 20 percent rise from the year before, she said. Most of the victims were transgender and gender nonconforming minorities.

Health Care

A trip to the doctor can be perilous for transgender people, who often face hostility or a general lack of understanding from health care providers.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 57 percent of all Americans living with HIV at the end of 2011 were three lettered G-word,” or bisexual men. They accounted for 65 percent of all new infections in 2013. African-Americans made up 40 percent of those new diagnoses, while whites accounted for 32 percent, and Latinos for 23 percent.

Immigration and Criminal Justice Reform

Undocumented L.G.B.T. immigrants face an increased risk of violence and harassment in immigration detention centers and have sometimes not been provided with appropriate medical care, such as hormone treatments or HIV medications, especially when they are transgender.

“For the longest time what they did was just put everybody in solitary confinement” out of fear that transgender detainees would either be the victims or perpetrators of violence.

That practice has decreased but not ended. Immigration authorities have started using designated L.G.B.T. units, but they are often far from a detainee’s family or lawyer.

Generation gaps

Psychologists working with LGBT clients are finding the need to tune in to generational differences, experts note--whether it's understanding young LGBT clients' new ways of thinking about their sexuality or assessing reasons for depression in older three lettered G-word,”men.

Many LGBT youth, for instance, now call themselves "queer" as a blanket term for their community, and they're more likely to accept variations in their ranks than previous generations.

40% of homeless youth identify as LGBT. 68% of those kids were kicked out of their families and homes because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and 54% reported being survivors of abuse from their families. These experiences leave these young people particularly vulnerable to mental and physical health issues, and lead to unfair criminalizationof queer and trans* youth.