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LGBTQ+ Rights

Around the world, there are still people under attack for who they are.

Living as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTQ+) person can still be life-threatening in a number of countries across the globe. For those who do not live with a daily immediate risk to their life, discrimination on the basis of one’s sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression and sex characteristics, can have a devastating effect on physical, mental and emotional well-being for those forced to endure it.


Discrimination and violence against LGBTQ+ people can come in many forms, from name-calling, bullying, harassment, and gender-based violence, to being denied a job or appropriate healthcare. Protests to uphold the rights of LGBTQ+ people also face suppression across the globe.

The range of unequal treatment faced is extensive and damaging and could be based on:

· your sexual orientation (who you’re attracted to)

· gender identity (how you self-identify, irrespective of the sex assigned at birth)

· gender expression (how you express your gender, for example through your clothing, hair or mannerisms),

· sex characteristics (for example, your genitals, chromosomes, reproductive organs, or hormone levels.)

Amnesty International campaigns to protect and uphold the rights of LGBTQ+ people globally, including their right to life, freedom and safety.


What does it mean to be LGBTQ+?

The term LGBTQ+ refers to a broad category of people, including those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or pansexual, intersex, although we recognize that there are many terms around the world that are used by people to define their sexual orientation or gender identity. The terminology used can vary widely depending on historical, cultural and societal contexts.

It is well established in international human rights law that states must take steps to safeguard the rights of LGBTQ+ people.


Gender identity vs sexual orientation

Gender identity refers to each person’s deeply felt internal and individual sense of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth. An individual’s gender identity may be that of a man, woman, or outside the binary categories of man and woman; it may also be more than one gender, fluid across genders or no gender at all.   

Sexual orientation refers to a person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectionate and sexual attraction to, and intimate and sexual relations with other people. People experience sexual and romantic attraction differently. You can be attracted to people of a different gender, or the same gender as you. Some people are asexual, meaning they experience little to no sexual attraction.


What is gender affirmation?

Some trans people decide to affirm their gender identity, which is the process of living your life as the gender you identify with.

There is no single gender-affirming process. Some people may adopt new pronouns, change their name, apply for legal gender recognition, and/or undergo gender-affirming surgery or hormone therapy.


Discrimination against LGBTQ+ people

We are each protected against discrimination based on our sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression and sex characteristics under international human rights law.

However, in practice, authorities in many countries that have signed international treaties, committing them to protect human rights, continue to implement and introduce legislations that singles out and discriminates against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.

In some countries, such as Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Uganda and in the northern states in Nigeria, people can be sentenced to the death penalty if they engage in consensual same-sex sexual acts.

Discrimination goes beyond being criminally prosecuted for being an LGBTQ+person and can include limited access to healthcare, difficulty in securing employment, bullying or harassment in the workplace and much more.

© Amnesty International

Many people live at the intersection of multiple forms of discrimination. For example, LGBTQ+ refugees in Kenya face hostility and violence, not only on the basis of their gender identity or sexual orientation but also on their migration status, nationality or ethnicity.

Marielle Franco, a bisexual human rights defender in Brazil, fought tirelessly for the rights of LGBTQ+ people, women and the many people in Brazil who suffer from police brutality. She was assassinated on 14 March 2018 while she was returning home from a speaking event.


Pride as a Protest

What is Pride?

While Pride is often perceived as a celebration it originally began as a riot against police brutality at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. On 28 June 1969, the Stonewall Inn was raided by the police, as it had been on many occasions before, due to laws which required a ‘man’ or a ‘woman’ to be wearing clothing items which ‘matched’ their gender on their state-issued ID. As the LGBTQ+ community in the Stonewall Inn, primarily led by trans women of color, fought back, police brutality increased amid six days of riots which was a galvanizing force for LGBTQ+ activism in the USA.

In many states around the world, Pride is still centrally and most importantly a protest which highlights, commemorates, and fights for the rights of LGBTQ+ people.

Pride is marked differently in countries across the world. Many communities organize parades, marches and concerts that bring LGBTQ+ people, allies, and the public together. But in other places, pride is actively shut down by governments and law enforcement agencies, leading to security risks for those participating.


While Pride has increasingly become one of the most visible modes of celebrating queer joy and resistance, LGBTQ+ activism, protest and ways of coming together as a community have always existed across the world in different iterations. There are also several places in the world where Pride as a concept may not resonate with local LGBTQ+ people, and they prefer to celebrate their identities in subtler, more locally relevant ways.


Whatever their choice, that’s what we need to start focusing on, it is each other’s choice what we do with our bodies, what we believe, and how we wish to conduct our private lives.

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