Hill Briefing on International LGBT and Human Rights Issues

June 23, 2008

Caucus Co-Chairs, Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Barney Frank (D-MA), along with Caucus Members Howard Berman (D-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), sponsored a briefing on international LGBT and human rights issues.  Speakers included:

• Ariel Herrera, Amnesty International
• Paula Ettelbrick, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
• Boris Dittrich, Human Rights Watch
• Sybille Nyeck, African human rights activist
• Mark Bromley, Council for Global Equality

People around the world face inequality and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity.  The U.S. State Department's 2007 Human Rights Report lists human rights concerns relating to sexual orientation and gender identity in more than 100 different countries.  Global human rights abuses include murders, extreme police violence, arrests of individuals based only on their sexual orientation or gender identity, state-sponsored harassment, extortion, and abuse in detention, and the denial of health care, housing, education and other social services.  Many of such abuses are documented in countries the U.S. considers to be close friends and allies.

The briefing will provided a broad overview of current international LGBT and human rights issues.  Panelists addressed the criminalization of homosexuality abroad and current events related to Latin America, Turkey, and Cameroon.  They also discussed what the U.S. could be doing to most effectively address international LGBT and human rights issues.