On June 17, Ruth Messinger, president of the American Jewish World Service ( AJWS ), held a press call with LGBT activists in Uganda and Thailand to discuss the state of international LGBT rights as well as to examine the United States' future role in the global battle for human rights.
Since the anti-homosexuality law in Uganda was introduced to its parliament in 2009, Nikki Mawanda has been a forthright critic of the intense anti-gay culture she said is quickly developing in northern and eastern African countries. Mawanda is a well-known leader of the Ugandan LGBT communityhe is a transgender man from Kampala, the capital of Uganda, where being gay carries a sentence of life imprisonment.
The Red Pepper, a popular Ugandan tabloid, named Mawanda one of the country's "200 Top Homosexuals," and this "honor" puts him at tremendous risk for violence and imprisonment.
Sattara "Tao" Hattirat is a Thai lesbian and recognized defender of human rights in her native country. Thailand, as well as many other eastern Asian nations, is generally known for their tolerant culture and acceptance of gender expression and sexual fluidity. However, same-sex marriages are illegal in Thailandand unbeknownst to the general populations of many Western countries, there is a highly sensitive culture forcing Thailand's young generations to follow heterosexual norms as well as rooted, nationalistic principles threatening LGBT people with injustice, extortion and violence.
Relatively speaking, in the United States, particularly in Illinois, the LGBT community is flourishing. LGBT U.S. residents share almost all the same rights and privileges as their heterosexual counterparts like the freedom to marry, workplace protections, adoption opportunities and the reflection of the demographic in mainstream media. However, in 77 countries, same-sex acts are illegaland in at least five of those countries, homosexuality is punishable by death.
After thanking Mawanda and Hattirat for their participation in the press call and highlighting their bravery in the fight for an established standard of universal human equality, Messinger said, "We see the LGBT struggle as one of the most important in the world today. It is critical to fight these injustices so that all people can live and love with health and dignity."
Mawanda said that many LGBT Ugandans are homeless because they were evicted under the new law. He added they fear going to the hospital because doctors are instructed to record the name of anyone who has AIDS and to turn over names of LGBT people to law enforcement. In addition, if someone is rumored to be gay, the police blackmail and extort money from the perceived homosexual and do not provide this person basic protection. Mawanda said, "This is not talked about in mainstream culture. For me, such issues are very critical. I have witnessed these things. ... My family was targeted for who I was."
Hattirat said the Thai family unit is typically very strong; children, especially daughters, are cogently taught to respect and listen to parents. Older family members put tremendous pressure on children to marry the opposite sex, leading to the increased probability of physical punishment by parents, homelessness, depression and suicide among LGBT youth.
She also said the Thai educational curriculum requires teachers to instruct students that homosexuality is a diseaseplus, the government offers no protection for homosexual families or transgender people and does not possess any anti-discriminatory or anti-hate laws. Due to a recent military coup, LGBT people in Thailand are facing more injustice than ever before. Hattirat said, "We need the United States government to hold countries accountable for their their treatment of native LGBT communities."
The AJWS agrees with Hattirat. Messinger declared her support for Senator Edward Markey's ( D-Mass ) recently introduced bill named the, "International Human Rights Defense Act" which makes LGBT rights an American foreign policy priority and "directs the State Department to author a strategy aimed at preventing and responding to discrimination and violence." Overall, the AJWS is the fourth-largest U.S.-based funder of LGBT rights worldwide. Just over the past year, they have provided over 3 million dollars to 47 grassroots organizations fighting for LGBT rights in 14 countries. In the final minutes of the press call, as Messinger praised the activists again on their courage, an overarching theme became astoundingly clear: the fight for LGBT equality is not over, but brutal and rambles on.