U.N. Human Rights Council Calls for LGBT Equality

By Guest on 06/20/2011 @ 11:49 AM

This guest post is from Immigration Equality legal interns, Samara Fox and Elaine Cintron.

The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution this past Friday affirming the universal rights of all LGBT individuals. It is the first ever resolution addressing the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The resolution, introduced by South Africa, aims to bring heightened attention to the widespread violence and discrimination that LGBT people experience around the world. It also commissions a study detailing the many forms of disparate treatment that individuals experience in various nations because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Immigration Equality applauds the 23 nations that voted in favor of the resolution and the 40 sponsors of the resolution from around the world. Many nations opposing it had some of the worst LGBT human rights records to date. Daniel Baer, a U.S. deputy assistant secretary, said after the vote that the resolution will provide hope for the LGBT people of those nations, sending a message “that there are many people in the international community who stand with them, and who support then, and that change will come."