For the month of March we asked colleagues about women's rights and the LBTI women that inspire them.
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— Lynare Robbins (@RudyL80) March 13, 2017
Our first interview is with Wangshu who is taking part in this week's events for the Commission of the Status of Women (CSW) working with the CSW LBTI Caucus.
Rashima: Which LBTI woman inspires you?
Wangshu: On a personal level, the LBTI person that inspires me the most is Mik Turje. They are a community organizer, activist, filmmaker, and also the first openly queer person I met in real life. They founded the Gay-Straight Alliance in my high school circa 2005, when I was a freshman there. Listening to their GSA talk was life-altering -- it was the first time in my life I learnt that it was possible (and legitimate) to identify as something other than heterosexual/cisgender. It was starting from that moment, I drove onto the path of my own exploration and eventually coming out.
Rashima: How do you think we can improve LBTI women's rights around the world, especially in regards to economic empowerment?
Wangshu: Inclusive policy reform and community empowerment are equally important in augmenting LBTI persons' economic empowerment and access to economic justice. Policy reforms that explicitly address SOGIE-based discrimination in education and employment should be part of each State's obligation to protect and fulfill each citizen's equal rights. Community empowerment ensures that where there are these inclusive policies, LBTI persons can access them, and where there are not, LBTI persons can call upon their State to develop these policies, and have the consciousness to stand up and speak out when their rights are infringed upon. China's first ever transgender employment discrimination case is a poignant example of how these two prongs come together -- the litigant speaking out against discrimination through impact litigation, and this case also serves as a case study to call upon lawmakers of the future Anti-Discrimination in Employment Law to be SOGIE-inclusive.
Rashima: What will be the biggest challenge for the generation of LBTI women behind you?
Wangshu: I feel so unqualified to answer this question since I still consider myself to be the "next" generation! I think one of the biggest challenges is definitely the revival of regressive, conservative movements gaining momentum around the globe. Some of the women's rights and SOGIE human rights gains in the last decade are backtracking. At the same time, the growing understanding and practice of intersectionality in human rights movements will definitely contribute to the strength of combating conservative tidal waves.
Published on March 14, 2017 | OutRight Action International an LGBT human rights organization