outspoken International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission • Spring/Summer 2008 Focus on Human Rights Defenders

Feature story Archbishop Desmond Tutu: Fighting Racism and from the Pulpit

“I have spoken against the injustice of apartheid, racism, where people were penalized for something about which they could do nothing, their ethnicity.... I therefore could not keep quiet, it was impossible, when people were hounded for something they did not choose, their sexual orientation.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Archbishop Desmond Tutu responds to But it took 18 more years of active resistance for apartheid to be a standing ovation from the audience vanquished. During all that time, Desmond Tutu remained a leading at IGLHRC’s A moral voice against racial injustice, urging other nations to impose Celebration of sanctions on his country, and declaring on behalf of black South Africa Courage event in San that: “We refuse to be treated as the doormat for the government to wipe Francisco. scher f or IGL H G RC

i its jackboots on.” teve F What is especially remarkable is that over the last several years Archbishop Tutu has begun to make direct comparisons between the Photo: S Photo: evils of apartheid and homophobia, declaring them both to be issues Archbishop Desmond Tutu is a remarkably humble man. Speaking fundamentally related to justice. at IGLHRC’s recent A Celebration of Courage event in San Francisco, “I have spoken against the injustice of apartheid, racism, where people the Nobel Peace Prize recipient and veteran anti-apartheid campaigner were penalized for something about which they could do nothing, their demurred at the suggestion that he should be commended for his ethnicity,” he told IGLHRC. “I therefore could not keep quiet, it was human rights activism. “I could just as well try not to breathe,” he said, impossible, when people were hounded for something they did not downplaying the exceptional commitment it has taken to challenge racism choose, their sexual orientation.” in his own country, and now homophobia internationally. In the face of ongoing persecution, Tutu has praised LGBTI people The Archbishop is world-renowned for his role in the struggle against for being “compassionate, caring, self-sacrificing and refusing to be apartheid in South Africa and often described as that country’s “moral embittered,” and has spoken critically of his Church, apologizing for conscience” for persistently speaking out about the evils of racial segregation, the way it has ostracized LGBTI people, and for making them feel as if especially during the 27 years that African National Congress leader Nelson God had made a mistake by creating them to be who they are. “How sad Mandela was silenced in jail. He was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in it is,” he told IGLHRC, “That the Church should be so obsessed with recognition of his extraordinary contributions to this struggle in 1984. this particular issue of human sexuality when God’s children are facing The South Africa that Desmond Tutu struggled to change was defined by massive problems—poverty, disease, corruption, conflict....” a brutal system of white minority rule. Blacks lived as exiles in their own It is Archbishop Tutu’s capacity to recognize that human beings are land, segregated from whites and people of mixed race, denied formal inherently valuable and deserve to be treated with justice and respect citizenship, and forced to obey the “pass laws”—which required them to that makes him such an exemplary human rights activist. IGLHRC was carry passport-like documents, replete with fingerprints and photographs, at honored to award him its 2008 OUTSPOKEN Award, recognizing the all times—and to show these documents before venturing into white areas. leadership of a global ally to Tutu first rose to prominence in 1976, when he wrote to the prime the LGBTI community whose minister, warning him that blacks in the townships were becoming outspokenness has contributed increasingly unhappy at the government’s discriminatory education substantially to advancing the policies, and urging him to implement reforms to show that “you and rights and understanding of your government....really mean business when you say you want peaceful LGBTI people everywhere. change.” The prime minister ignored Tutu’s warning. A month later tensions bubbled over as students began the Soweto Uprising—now Archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of IGLHRC’s 2008 OUTSPOKEN Award, recognized as one of the first nails in the coffin for the apartheid era. ill W il son with Paula Ettelbrick, IGLHRC’s

Photo: B Photo: executive director. Photo: Steve Fisch 2 shape, adopted a for up human rights. standing involves work whose someone for designation literal a T and City international levels.”international realization of and human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and protection the for strive to and promote to others, with association 1 of this rvlgd o oo tee usadn idvdas ad n pioneering recent its one at organization) (and individuals outstanding these honor to privileged International Gay and Lesbian and Gay International bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBintersex and transgender bisexual, gay,lesbian, for world safer a day,create every to measures, extraordinary Rep University for several years before being elected to Congress in 1980. He earned graduate degrees in economics, and taught at San Francisco State Lantos first came to the United States on an academic scholarship in 1947. Annette Tillemann, a childhood friend whom he later married. had perished in the Nazi death camps. Miraculously, he managed to locate At the war’s end, Lantos tragically discovered thathis ownmost familyof March 1944 of and January 1945 of made me a very old young man,” hethat Isaw, said. somany times aroundme duringthose few months between occupation took a tremendous toll: “The bloodbath, the cruelty, the death But survive he did—although the experiences he encountered during the Lantos assumed. “[So] I decided I might somebe of use.” city to deliver food to other Jews in hiding. “I probablyhe went wouldn’tto work for survive,”the resistance, regularly navigatingsociety. his way throughBut instead the keeping of a low profile and focusing Blonde haired andblue-eyed, Lantoswas able to blend inwith Hungarian on his own survival, Wallenberg. Raoul diplomat Swedish by established house safe a in living Budapest, in back Lantos was sent to alaborcamp but escaped—twice—and ended up Jews. up rounding started and 1944 in Hungary invaded Nazis the when Su O he term “human rights defender” may sound technocratic but it’s actually UT t rvivor S T r P he late Representative Representative late he OK e T s om Lantos, a 2008 2008 a Lantos, om EN Declaration states that, “Everyone has the right, individually and in entative Tom Lant an Francisco. We want to share their inspirational stories here. stories inspirational their share to want We Francisco. San

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design: jcgraphicdesignstudio.com “I hope there will be a day IBM Corporation: Transforming the Workplace Parsi himself says that IRQO’s when IRQO will reach main achievement has been While talking about a corporation in the same breath as a “human such a level of success that to make visible rights defender” might initially seems incongruous, IBM is among those in —creating a public no Iranian queer will be pioneering organizations that have been in the forefront when it comes to discourse that was previously discriminated against, tortured, supporting LGBT rights and paving the way for LGBT equality. In fact, entirely lacking, and “bringing executed, or mocked, and IBM is the acknowledged global leader in promoting policies around the the issue of sexual minorities world supporting LGBT employees. when their rights will be in Iran…into kitchen-table respected by all.” conversations and seminars, under the banner that queer – Arsham Parsi

Joseph Bertolotti accepts rights are human rights.” a Special Recognition Award on behalf of the By being the face of the Iranian queer movement and by telling the IBM Corporation from IGLHRC board co-chair stories of LGBT Iranians, Parsi shows the international community that ck f or IGL HRC scher f or IGL H G RC i la Dorothy Sander. in spite of many problems the Iranian queer movement is very much

a r B ➤ IBM’s Jane Harper. t teve F alive and demands equality, dignity and justice.

Photo: S Photo: S Photo: “I hope there will be a day when IRQO will reach such a level of success that no Iranian queer will be discriminated against, tortured, executed, or mocked, and Even the basic act of recognizing LGBT people in the workplace can be when their rights will be respected by all,” Parsi told IGLHRC. “That day will a powerful move. IBM has done that, and much more. In 1984, it was come; we just need to keep on working toward it.” the first major company to add sexual orientation to its United States nondiscrimination policy. It began offering health insurance coverage to employees’ domestic partners in 1997, and now provides domestic partner benefits in every country where it is legally possible. In 2002, it amended its Andrés Ignacio Rivera Duarte: Forging a New Future U.S. nondiscrimination policy to cover gender identity. “Not conforming to the patterns of men and women established by IBM has a Global Task Force of Out Executives who help advance LGBT society is a real challenge,” said Andrés Ignacio Rivera Duarte, a trans workplace issues around the world, and 45 LGBT Diversity Network man and pioneering human rights defender who founded and heads Groups worldwide, throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America, Organización de Transexuales por la Dignidad de la Diversidad, the first Africa and Asia. NGO in Chile dedicated to fighting for trans people’s rights. As Jane Harper, the Director of Collaborative Innovation at IBM, told Rivera knows first-hand the hardship that trans people must confront. IGLHRC: “As a globally integrated enterprise, it is important for our He told IGLHRC that trans people in Chile are forced to undergo employees to feel welcomed, valued and safe at work, regardless of their invasive medical procedures, hormone therapies and sex reassignment sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or the country that they surgeries—all to be acknowledged as human. work in…. Just as the ‘I’ in IGLHRC stands for “international” so does the ‘I’ in IBM!” By leading the way toward equality in the global workplace, IBM

Corporation sends a clear message that LGBT people matter. Andrés Ignacio Rivera Duarte receives a Felipa De Souza Award from Julie Dorf, IGLHRC’s founder. Arsham Parsi: Making the Invisible Visible ck f or IGL HRC la The authorities “don’t care if we have pre-

Arsham Parsi exists. And just this fact confounds the claims of Iranian a r B t President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who back in September insisted that, existing conditions that makes hormone

“In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country.…We don’t have S Photo: therapy or surgery hazardous,” he said. that in our country.” Parsi is almost synonymous with the Iranian Queer “They don’t care if we have the money to Organization (IRQO), the organization he founded in 2001 and built from pay for that, or if our life is at risk. All this to submit a name and sex the ground up after two of his gay friends committed suicide in Iran. change petition which is finally up to a judge to accept…or not.” IRQO began as an internet-based chat group inside Iran, designed to create That a Chilean trans person can submit this type of petition to a judge moral support for a group of gay men and lesbians living under a regime represents progress, much of it due to Rivera’s own persistence. He mandating the death penalty for same-sex intimacy. Over the last seven fought a landmark lawsuit, bringing issues of gender identity into the years—despite limited financial resources and constant threats from the public view, and finally winning the right for trans people to legally change Iranian authorities—IRQO has become the voice of thousands of Iranian their name and sex in 2007. queers, based both inside Iran and overseas. Parsi has dedicated his life to This remarkable achievement only scratches the surface of Rivera’s the cause, selflessly working around the clock and without pay to ensure that extraordinarily wide-ranging activist agenda. He has worked with Iranian queers are not forgotten or ignored. government and the local health system to simplify processes for the Today, Parsi’s IRQO plays a key role in documenting LGBT rights evaluation, treatment and surgery of trans people, and organized a debate violations in Iran and in mobilizing public opinion to pressure Iranian on the Civil Union Pact. But his work is not just with high-level officials; authorities to end the inhumane treatment he also provides direct support to sex workers—visiting them nightly to of sexual minorities. It also supports distribute coffee, food and information about HIV/AIDS. Iranian refugees and asylum seekers who are Although Rivera fully acknowledges that social nonconformity can bring forced to leave their country, offers phone consequences “such as discrimination, bullying, unemployment, pain, counseling to its members, and publishes violence and occasionally death,” he remains optimistic in the face of regular articles on homosexuality in Iran. all these challenges, emphasizing that it can also precipitate “growth as a human being, and growth in the fight for equality, justice and dignity.”

ck f or IGL HRC As the first Chilean trans man to marry, he demonstrates just that—and la Felipa De Souza Award

a r B winner Arsham Parsi. embodies hope for the future of trans people in Chile. t 3 Photo: S Photo: New IGLHRC Projects Our Sponsors IGLHRC recently launched a set of initiatives and In Latin America, IGLHRC will hold panels and public activities in partnership with LGBTI groups and allies presentations in Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua in We would like to thank our sponsors related to two of its top priorities: 1) Challenging the conjunction with the release of its report from its 2007 who help make our work possible. specific forms of violence and discrimination faced by Human Rights Advocacy Institute for lesbian and bisexual lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LBT) women, and women leaders from Central America and the Caribbean. Lead Sponsor 2) Ending the criminalization of homosexuality and the At each panel, lesbian activists will address the application Fred Eychaner abuse related to arbitrary arrests of LGBTI people. of the Yogyakarta Principles to their work in the region. In November 2008, IGLHRC will partner with Catholics for a IGLHRC’s work to challenge violence against LBT women Free Choice in hosting its 3rd Latin America and Caribbean Presenting Sponsors involves active participation in the 16 Days of Activism, an Human Rights Advocacy Institute, which will address international campaign spearheaded by the Center for Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice religious fundamentalism and its specific impact on LBT Women’s Global Leadership between November 25 and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP women. Participants will release a public statement on December 10, 2008 and designed to draw attention to the December 10, International Human Rights Day. IBM Corporation fact that violence against women is a human rights violation. Dorothy E. Sander In Africa, IGLHRC will draw attention to the murders of In Asia, IGLHRC will work with LBT activists throughout lesbians through poster advertisements placed in Levi Strauss Foundation the region to host a traveling banner and a series of newspapers and circulated on the internet during the 16 public events designed to draw attention to violence Days of Activism. The advertisements will demand that against LBT women. The events will be filmed and Underwriting Sponsors authorities step up to their responsibility to investigate these personal stories documented. The banner and public Paul F. Albert murders and speak out forcefully in condemning them. events will kick off in Thailand and culminate in Fairmont San Francisco Yogyakarta, Indonesia on December 10, 2008, the 60th This year, IGLHRC will also launch a series of initiatives Dennis Friedman & Susan Seo anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration related to its goal of ending the criminalization of of Human Rights. Along the way, women will discuss the homosexuality and the human rights abuses that Kate O’Hanlan, MD & Léonie Walker use of the Yogyakarta Principles—a set of principles that accompany detention and arrests. IGLHRC’s primary Ambassador James C. Hormel describe how international human rights law applies to strategy is to concentrate on the states that are members Runa Saeki & Sharon Brooks sexual orientation and gender identity—in combating of the British Commonwealth, whose laws criminalizing Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP domestic and social violence faced by LBT women. The sexuality are vestiges of their colonial histories. These film will be released in 2009. countries include many former British colonies in Asia, Andrew Tobias & Charles Nolan the Caribbean and Africa. IGLHRC will work closely with Ted Snowdon Commonwealth members who have repealed their Uptown Studios sodomy laws, as well as with those that have not. IGLHRC will report on the tangible progress made toward decriminalization every year on May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia.

Lesbian activists demonstrate on the International Day Against Homophobia in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo: the Ardh a n ry Inst i tute Photo: Recent IGLHRC Reports Over the last several months, IGLHRC’s staff has been busy producing reports for a variety of UN committees and other audiences. The following documents can be found on our website at www.iglhrc.org: • Shadow Report to the UN Committee Against Torture on the Rights of LGBT in Costa Rica April 21, 2008 JOIN A GLOBAL MOVEMENT • Human Rights and LGBT People in Romania - Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review February 8, 2008 The world is big. • Human Rights and Transgender People in Pakistan - Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review Our mission is enormous. February 6, 2008 Your support makes an impact. • Nepal Supreme Court Case on Relief for Sexual and Gender Minorities: Observers’ Report December 12, 2007 Visit www.iglhrc.org to • Shadow Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on the Human Rights of learn more on how you can LGBT Adolescents in Chile December 12, 2007 support IGLHRC’s work. • Shadow Report on the Human Rights of Lesbian, Bisexual, Transsexual, Transgender and Intersex Women in Bolivia December 5, 2007 • Human Rights Abuses Against Sexual Minorities in Indonesia November 26, 2007

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