Dear friends and colleagues,“As men and women of conscience, we reject discrimination in general, and in particular discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. When individuals are attacked, abused or imprisoned because of their sexual orientation, we must speak out … Today, many nations have modern constitutions that guarantee essential rights and liberties. And yet, homosexuality is considered a crime in more than 70 countries. This is not right. Yes, we recognize that social attitudes run deep. Yes, social change often comes only with time. But let there be no confusion: where there is tension between cultural attitudes and universal human rights, rights must carry the day. Personal disapproval, even society’s disapproval, is no excuse to arrest, detain, imprison, harass or torture anyone, ever. “ –
UN Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon, 10 December 2010
The Universal Declaration of Human rights states in Article 2: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status” This article is an important reminder of the absolute right not to be discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
OHCHR claims that protecting LGBT people from violence and discrimination does not require the creation of a new set of LGBT-specific rights, nor does it require the establishment of new international human rights standards. The legal obligations of States to safeguard the human rights of LGBT people are well established in international human rights law on the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequently agreed international human rights treaties. All people, irrespective of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, are entitled to enjoy the protections provided for by international human rights law.
Even so, in many countries it is not only illegal to be LGBT, but if you, as a parent, neighbor, fellow worker or physician fail to report someone if you find out, you might face charges and imprisonment.
In addition to judicial difficulties and the lack of full enjoyment of civil rights in many countries, the stigma of being LGBT may lead to a number of other serious issues, including health problems. According to the American Psychological Association (APP) several studies suggest that gay men, lesbians and bisexuals appear to have higher rates of some mental disorders compared with heterosexuals, although not to the level of a serious pathology. Discrimination, also in the area of health system may help fuel these higher rates. We are talking about the serious consequences of human rights violations on persons’ health, well-being and possibility to live according to own choices and preferences.
To follow up on the human rights perspective in relation to this, we have added a new thematic page on LGBT rights where we have collected publications on UN resolutions and documents, articles regarding LGBT and mental health and organizations that are working with LGBT issues. We would very much appreciate feedback, comments and suggestions on relevant publications to add to this page. Please check our thematic page on LGBT rights for more links.
For many, gender orientation may be related to serious and painful events, for some even traumatic experiences with the consequences known from the trauma field in general In our search for good links we found limited information regarding psychological trauma in persons with LGBT background due to stigma and persecution. But we would nevertheless take the opportunity to refer to our recently published manual about GBV where outline of what is trauma, what are trauma reactions and how to deal with them are outlined and described rather concretely. Our manual is freely available from our website.