OutRight Now: We Are OutRight Against Hate, and All For Inclusion!

Dear Friend,

It is that time of year for the annual UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the largest recurring gathering of governments, civil society, and the UN system to develop the global agenda concerning progress for women and girls.

You may already have seen our outcry at finding out that the US Administration invited hate group C-Fam to join its official delegation. OutRight issued two press releases calling for the removal of C-Fam from the US delegation to the UN. We certainly struck a nerve with the hate group who promptly called OutRight a “powerful” “radical homosexual group!” What a compliment indeed! However, we discovered that they also used that email to fundraise - clearly violating federal ethics laws.

OutRight has sent a letter to Ambassador Nikki Haley calling for the removal of C-Fam from the US delegation. We need your help and support to let Ambassador Haley know that hate cannot be tolerated on the official delegation and those who violate the law must be removed! Please sign our petition now and amplify our voice!

OutRight, as part of a lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LBTI) people’s caucus, also participated in a Town Hall meeting with Antonio Guterres, the new UN Secretary General, where he publicly stated his support for the human rights of LGBTIQ people. He said,

“I think that one of the central debates today in the world is how to make sure that the principle of the Charter, that is very clear, the principle of non-discrimination, is widely accepted to apply also to the LGBTI community. This is one of the complex ideological battles we have within the international community, and within the UN, and I’m totally committed to make people understand that this is an area of discrimination that needs to be treated exactly as all the other areas of discrimination mentioned in the charter, and that these rights are rights to be fully acknowledged on all levels, on the national and international level.”

We are encouraged by the Secretary General’s support and look forward to his continued commitment to advancing equality at the UN.

Also during CSW, OutRight hosted an event titled, “Stop Leaving Us Behind: Insist on the Inclusion of LBTI People in the Sustainable Development Goals,”. The discussion was led by OutRight’s Global Research Coordinator, Felicity Daly, and on the panel were Kenita Placide, OutRight’s Caribbean Advisor and Director of the regional organization ECADE, Wangshu Lian, from the Chinese group Common Language, and Boyan Konstantinov, from the United Nations Development Programme.

We know that LBTI people continue to be excluded from the economic, political, and social sectors, limiting access to education, health services, and employment. OutRight’s panel highlighted the need to ensure that LBTI people are accounted for and that significant data is collected so that globally we can improve the livelihood and decision-making influence of LBTI people. Our speakers brought in their own perspectives of why this was important and how inclusion can be made to happen.

Data collection and research are a priority at OutRight. We have just launched a cutting-edge global research program aimed at filling the gaps that currently exist on LGBTI data collection.

Warmly,
Jessica Stern,
Executive Director, OutRight Action International