Friends,
As people committed to justice, we know that to achieve full equality for LGBT communities, we must collaborate with other movements for human rights.
Working side-by-side with women’s rights activists is one example of a critical partnership. After all, LBT women are women, too. And much of the homophobia and transphobia we deal with every day, including as gay and transgender men, is rooted in the same traditional values that oppress women.
Grace Poore, who coordinates IGLHRC’s Asia program, brought this vision to Amman, Jordan for a recent meeting of national human rights institutions (NHRIs)—these are the folks you should be able to turn to when your laws are oblivious to human rights. The meeting focused on protecting the rights of women and girls, and that’s where she snapped the photo above. Old and young, women held signs with a dream-like message: equality.
Another place where we rub elbows with women’s rights activists – the progressives and yes, the conservatives, too – is the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
We invite you to join us at any of the several CSW workshops IGLHRC will organize in New York in March. One of them, Documenting Violence against Lesbians, Bisexual Women and Transgender People in Asia, will pair Grace as moderator with activists from 5 countries.
To get a glimpse of what’s to come in New York, watch Grace on last week’s episode of The Stream on Al Jazeera. Or, read her description of the events in Jordan in the Huffington Post.
Are you carrying LGBT rights into uncomfortable places? Into work or school? Help keep us at IGLHRC inspired by telling us what you’re up to, and we’ll keep moving forward, together.
With warmth and solidarity,
Jessica Stern
Executive Director
