For Immediate Release: March 21, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO - The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) will honor outstanding activists at its annual Felipa Awards ceremony in San Francisco on May 8 and at a reception in New York on May 13. This year's awardees are:

• Marta Lucía Tamayo Rincón, Marta Lucía Álvarez Giraldo, and Alba Nelly Montoya, Colombia
• Cui Zi En, China
• Maher Sabry, Egypt

A posthumous award will honor the life and work of Brazilian lesbian activist Elizabeth Calvet.

"This year's honorees are real heroes," stated Surina Khan, IGLHRC's Executive Director. "Where cultural taboos about homosexuality require silence, they make our lives visible. Where the law penalizes us or simply ignores us, they continue to demand equality and justice."

Ms. Álvarez' demand for same-sex conjugal visitation rights in prison became the first complaint of discrimination based on sexual orientation ever to be acknowledged by the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights. While this groundbreaking case remains open, Ms. Montoya has already scored an important legal victory in a parallel case heard by the Colombian Supreme Court. Neither case would have been possible without the legal representation and perseverance of Ms. Tamayo.

Mr. Cui has brought issues of same-sex love into Chinese culture and public awareness, with a prolific crop of critically acclaimed articles, lectures, books, and films, including the first gay novel in modern China. Despite it being banned in mainland China, the novel is still available through unofficial channels.

Mr. Sabry wrote and directed the first play publicly presented in Egypt that addressed male and female homosexuality openly. Last year, as the arrests of suspected homosexuals intensified, Mr. Sabry helped persuade a local human rights organization to represent some of the arrested men while at the same time bringing ever-mounting cases of persecution to the attention of IGLHRC and the international human rights community.

The 2002 Felipa Awards will take place on Wednesday, May 8, in San Francisco at Brava! for Women in the Arts, and will be emceed by lesbian entertainer Marga Gomez. The awardees will also be recognized at a reception in New York on Monday, May 13, at the Art Club gallery in lower Manhattan. Tickets to either event are $100, and may be obtained by contacting IGLHRC's San Francisco office by telephone (415-255-8680) or by e-mail (kevin@iglhrc.org). Reservations are encouraged as space is limited, but tickets may still be available the day of the event. In addition, the award-winners will speak at free public events in both cities.

Please see IGLHRC's web site for more information on the events and for more details on this year's Felipa awardees.

The Felipa Awards, named in honor of Felipa de Souza, a Brazilian lesbian tortured by the Portuguese Inquisition in 1591, honors activists and organizations that have made significant contributions to the freedom of sexual minorities worldwide. IGLHRC's mission is to secure the full enjoyment of the human rights of all people and communities subject to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation or expression, gender identity or expression, and/or HIV status.
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