Category Archives: LGBT Rights

News and updates about LGBT human rights.

Orgullo: Mexico City Pride

June 25, 2016 at 12:02 AM
Pride march, June 2001, Mexico City. JORGE UZON/AFP/Getty Images

Pride march, June 2001, Mexico City. JORGE UZON/AFP/Getty Images

By Jesús Canchola Sánchez

June 25 marks the 38th Pride march in Mexico City.

“It is the most important space for the LGBT movement each year. It is a space of dissidence and celebration. It represents for many the only opportunity to express their sexual orientations and gender identities openly. It also allows for people of different faiths, socio-economic backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, ages, and skin color within the community to converge. Without a doubt, it’s a space to feel like you belong,” stated Carlos López López from the Diversity Commission of the Legislative Assembly in Mexico City (la Comisión de la Diversidad de la Asamblea Legsilativa del Distrito Federal). SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Happy Pride!

June 10, 2016 at 12:00 AM

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It’s June, and June means that we’re entering the heart of Pride season here in the United States. Around the country, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies are coming together to celebrate Pride.

At Amnesty International, we’ve launched our 2016 Pride Toolkit to help members and supporters take action at Pride events to promote LGBT human rights. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

IDAHOT 2016: LGBT Human Rights Around The World

May 17, 2016 at 12:00 AM

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Today, May 17, Amnesty International celebrates International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia. This IDAHOT, Amnesty International condemns the ongoing discrimination, violence, and denial of fundamental human rights faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people around the world. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

What’s the State of Human Rights Around the World?

February 24, 2016 at 11:41 AM

In 2015, Amnesty International investigated the human rights situation in 160 countries and territories worldwide. Progress continued in some areas, but many people and communities faced grave human rights abuses.

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At least 113 countries arbitrarily restricted freedom of expression and the press. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Beaten up for Being in Love

November 23, 2015 at 2:17 PM

Costas and his refugee partner were brutally beaten during a homophobic and racist attack on 23 August 2014. The couple were sitting on a bench in a square in central Athens when a group of 12-15 young men wearing black shirts violently attacked them. Costas says that the men threw a bucket of filthy water on them, and then punched and kicked him for more than 10 minutes. The attackers then overturned a trash bin over Costas' head, and broke his leg in three places above the ankle, leaving him in need of surgery and months of recovery. No perpetrators have been punished, and no suspects have been identified.Costas and his refugee partner were brutally beaten during a homophobic and racist attack on 23 August 2014. The couple were sitting on a bench in a square in central Athens when a group of 12-15 young men wearing black shirts violently attacked them. Costas says that the men threw a bucket of filthy water on them, and then punched and kicked him for more than 10 minutes. The attackers then overturned a trash bin over Costas' head, and broke his leg in three places above the ankle, leaving him in need of surgery and months of recovery. No perpetrators have been punished, and no suspects have been identified.

By Costas

In August 2014, Costas and his partner were badly beaten up by thugs in a violent homophobic and racist attack in central Athens.

We had met a couple of months previously at Athens Pride, and we had decided to move in together. We lived in a small studio in central Athens. One day in late August, we went to buy some things from the shop, and I suggested spending some time outside instead of going back home. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

November 20th is Transgender Day of Remembrance

November 20, 2015 at 10:00 AM

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By Emily McGranachan, chair of the LGBT CoGroup and East Coast Regional Manager with Family Equality Council

November 20th is Transgender Day of Remembrance

On the night of July 4 – 5, while people in the United States were watching fireworks, transgender women were brutally attacked in Cali, in southwestern Colombia. In a separate attack on the same night, another group of transgender women were attacked and two were injured, one fatally, after being attacked with knives. The second woman had to be taken to the hospital due to her injuries. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Poland: It’s Time to Take Hate Crimes Seriously

September 18, 2015 at 11:16 AM

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In January 2014, a 24-year-old Polish gay man was murdered shortly after leaving a club in Szczecin. His body was found on a nearby construction site, his face covered in bruises and his pants pulled down. Medical examiners found that he had drowned, as his face had been pushed into a puddle repeatedly. Authorities ignored the possibility that homophobia motivated the murder, and the court treated this attack as a common crime when it convicted the two men responsible.

Poland’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community faces widespread and ingrained discrimination. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

El Salvador Must Do More to Protect LGBT Rights

September 11, 2015 at 3:33 PM

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Following a wave of violence against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly has passed a law establishing increased penalties for hate crimes. Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Director for the Americas, emphasized that this law “should be a catalyst for a series of concrete measures to stop the alarming and growing wave of attacks against members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transexual community, who suffer grave threats and abuses on a daily basis.”

Some recent examples of violence against the LGBT community include: SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Victory: Marriage equality is a right!

June 26, 2015 at 12:09 PM

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“When we got together, we didn’t think about getting married – we couldn’t really imagine that would ever be possible.”

Last weekend, I went back to North Carolina to witness the wedding of my dear friends, Mark and Scott. Today, as we rejoice in the amazing news from the U.S. Supreme Court – a tremendous victory for marriage equality and for the human rights of all people – I can’t help but think back to Mark’s words, shared deep from the heart before the 90 or so friends and family gathered to celebrate with them. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

LGBT Rights Are Human Rights: Pride Under Threat in Ukraine

June 4, 2015 at 1:38 PM

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By Midushi Pandey, Intern Identity and Discrimination Unit Amnesty International USA

The month of June brings about many changes in the year: spring transitions to summer, schools let out for vacation, and LGBT Pride Month begins.

For many of us in the United States, Pride Month is a time of joy and celebration. We attend Pride parades in our big cities and small towns, decked in our finest rainbow Mardi Gras beads and waving our Pride Flags. Here in the nation’s capital, the Washington Nationals baseball team and the Smithsonian Museums hold free Pride events. And this Pride Month, we await a landmark Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality now just a few weeks away. You’ll also see (and can join!) Amnesty members working for LGBT human rights at Pride events around the country. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST