Washington, D.C., May 21, 2013 – Peace Corps Deputy Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet today announced that the agency will begin accepting applications from same-sex domestic partners who want to serve together as volunteers overseas. Same-sex couples may begin the application process starting Monday, June 3.

“Service in the Peace Corps is a life-defining leadership experience for Americans who want to make a difference around the world,” Deputy Director Hessler-Radelet said. “I am proud that the agency is taking this important step forward to allow same-sex domestic partners to serve overseas together.”

Expanding service opportunities to same-sex domestic partners who want to volunteer together further diversifies the pool of Peace Corps applicants and the skills of those invited to serve overseas in the fields of education, health, community economic development, environment, youth in development and agriculture. Married heterosexual couples have been serving together in the Peace Corps since its inception in 1961. Currently, 7 percent of Peace Corps assignments are filled by married volunteers serving together.

The Peace Corps requires formal documentation for all couples who want to serve, and same-sex domestic partners will be required to sign an affidavit before leaving for service that will act as verification of their relationship. The Peace Corps continually works with staff in host countries to identify placements that allow for safe and productive assignments.

Couples who serve together gain a unique perspective of host country customs and culture, but opportunities for couples are limited, as both applicants must apply at the same time and qualify for assignments at the same post. Many factors affect placements, including an applicant’s overall competitiveness, program availability, departure dates, and safety and medical accommodations. For any applicant, the number one factor in determining an assignment is the demand from host countries for skilled volunteers.

To learn more about serving in the Peace Corps as a same-sex couple, visit http://www.peacecorps.gov/learn/howvol/couplesfaqs/.

“We are very proud of the format and the richness in information of this edition” said ILGA co-Secretaries General Renato Sabbadini and Gloria Careaga, “which make it easier to consult for anyone who wants to find out about legislation affecting – negatively or positively – lesbians and gays in the world today. The content of the report offers reasons for happiness and anger at the same time, as on the one hand we see how more and more countries adopt equal marriage and other pieces of progressive legislation, while on the other hand criminalisation on the basis of sexual orientation is maintained in 78 countries.”

“Moreover, an extremely worrying development is to be found in Russia, where the state does not criminalise same-sex sexual relations, but nevertheless sanctions and encourages homophobia by way of laws against LGBTI activists, preposterously defined by the Russian authorities as ‘homosexual propaganda’. It is no exaggeration” concluded Careaga and Sabbadini, “to say that the Russian State bears the moral responsibility for the homophobic murder of Vlad Tornovy in Volgograd few days ago. More needs to be done to fight homophobia, both in countries where being gay or lesbian is legal and in those where it is not.”

The report, edited by Lucas Paoli Itaborahy and Jingshu Zhu, has been presented at the City Hall of Geneva, at the presence of more than 30 UN Delegates.

Click here to download the report and here for the world map on lesbian and gay rights

For more information on the report and the related world map, click here.

IDAHO is less known in the U.S. than in many other countries around the world. Here in the U.S., LGBT communities have a greater focus on Gay Pride, a series of parades, concerts and other events, usually held in June, aimed at celebrating the unity and diversity of the LGBT movement. Pride reflects the heightened sense of LGBT community awareness and identification that has grown in the U.S. since the Stonewall Riots in New York City in 1969. It equally celebrates the “coming out” movement that continues to change our country’s understanding of LGBT fairness in such positive ways.

IDAHO carries a different focus. Celebrated on May 17 – the 1990 date when the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its International Classification of Diseases – IDAHO is a call to conscience that the rights of LGBT people around the world remain under attack. For many LGBT communities worldwide, celebrating Gay Pride isn’t an option, or comes with great risk to personal safety and security. Being openly LGBT, in fact, can be an invitation to harassment and abuse, and even death. Here in the U.S., IDAHO can bring back the awareness that sexual orientation and gender identity are not only to be celebrated, but also require us to defend our rights. We can use IDAHO to redouble our commitment to ensure respect, fairness, and equality for LGBT people every where.

We are joined in that support with LGBT community organizations around the world, and we are proud that the White House, the Department of State, and a range of other foreign affairs agencies are supporting the cause of LGBT human and civil rights. We are also proud that many U.S. embassies around the world mark IDAHO and celebrate Pride as a sign of our country’s solidarity and support.

Related Content from our Organizational Council Members:

Amnesty International: Activists worldwide target homophobia in Jamaica, Ukraine and South Africa

Freedom House: International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia 2013

Human Rights Watch: LGBT Rights: The 2013 ‘Hall of Shame’ and Reflecting on the pursuit of equality and non-discrimination on LGBT Day

International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission: IDAHO 2013: Documenting Violence Against LBT People in Asia

Thank you, Mark, and thank you to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society for bringing us together today to celebrate this important research on LGBT refugees and asylum seekers. I’d also like to recognize Yiftach Millo, lead researcher and author of the study we are all here to officially launch, “Invisible in the City: Protection Gaps Experienced by Sexual Minority Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Urban Ecuador, Ghana, Israel, and Kenya.” I commend Mr. Millo and his team for their innovative work to help protect these refugees.

HIAS continues to be a leader in helping expose and address the barriers faced that confront lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and intersex refugees. HIAS’s energy and vision is helping us all to find solutions to a real and persistent problem. Refugees and asylum seekers are already in a precarious position – they are at risk of exploitation, attack, and destitution. A refugee who is also part of a sexual minority is at even greater risk.

It has been over 20 years since Fidel Armanda Tobos Alfonso, a gay man from Cuba, was allowed to remain in the United States based on a judgement or understanding that he was at risk because of his sexual orientation. The Toboso-Alfonso decision paved the way for hundreds of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals as well as individuals with intersex conditions, to obtain refuge and asylum in the United States.

From the beginning of his Administration, President Obama has promoted the equal rights of LGBT people both at home and abroad. His Memorandum of December 2011 affirmed United States’s commitment to promoting the human rights of sexual minorities and specifically directed U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance agencies to protect vulnerable LGBT refugees and asylum seekers.

In her landmark LGBTI speech in Geneva in 2011, Secretary Clinton stated what we all know is true, that gay rights are human rights. We all acknowledge this universal truth: that everyone, regardless of race, religion, nationality, class or sexual identity is equal and is entitled to equal protection Today, the United States Government is working very hard, across agencies, to make sure that happens.

The Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration has an important leadership role to play in this effort. One of our fundamental goals is to ensure that the global system for refugee protection responds to the needs of all refugees – regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. We have taken steps to ensure gay and other sexual minority refugees are protected by officers of the U.S. Government and by our partners in the US refugee resettlement program. For instance:

We support training of all refugee protection staff – from the DC-based program officer to the regional Refugee Coordinator to the UNHCR case worker — on how to actively include sexual minorities in our plans and programs. We support the USCIS mandate that all officers get training in the adjudication of LGBT refugees and asylum claimants. This training includes increased awareness about the issues sexual minorities face. These officers now get consistent legal and interview guidance regarding these issues.

We support humanitarian responses that meet the specific needs of LGBT refugees. For example, a man currently living in Baghdad, Iraq was subjected to continuous death threats, beaten and forced to take female hormones by his father who thought he should live as a woman because he was born with some of the physical features of a woman. He was forced to stay inside to avoid being persecuted by the larger Iraqi community, causing psychological damage. Since 2006, he has been separated from his long-term partner who lives in the U.S. In 2008, this person was detained, threatened and interrogated by border security when he tried to leave Iraq for gender reassignment surgery.

The Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), which has people on the ground in Iraq who work specifically with persecuted Iraqis on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, referred the case to the U.S. Embassy. The embassy will make it possible to travel directly to the United States in order to reduce the risks of traveling to another country while he waits for the resettlement process to run its course. He has completed his medical check and is awaiting his security check in order to travel to the U.S. and be reunited with his partner.

We also support urban refugee protection programs that aim to reach LGBT refugees where they live and work. UNHCR is now working in Kenya with senior police officials to address concerns such as harassment, extortion and violence that specifically targets LGBT refugees. The proactive engagement of UNHCR helps lessen the fear of arrest LGBT refugees have when reporting crimes to the police.

PRM also funds research that helps strengthen and sustain LGBT refugee protection programs around the world. In addition to HIAS’ research, PRM funded the Organization for Refugee Asylum and Migration (ORAM) to research best practices for non-governmental organizations, governments, UNHCR and program funders for urban refugees in Mexico, Uganda and South Africa. This research resulted in the development of important tools that can be used to advocate on behalf of and train relevant stakeholders who engage with LGBT refugees.

What these few examples show is that my bureau and the leadership of the State Department as a whole believe that advancing the human rights of LGBT individuals is a critical diplomatic goal requiring our broadest efforts. We are urging countries to respect the human rights of all of their citizens.

This is done through direct talks led by State Department diplomats with governments, and through international partners like the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and through non-governmental organizations. This “Humanitarian Diplomacy” is vital to ensure that countries of first asylum protect sexual minority refugees. But, despite our best efforts, sometimes countries fall short. Sexual minority refugees can be the targets of violence in their countries of asylum, or are unable to request assistance and may be isolated from the established refugee protection architecture. We are actively seeking solutions to prevent this isolation and shield all refugees from violence. In some extreme situations, we resettle urgent cases in dire need of protection.

So that’s what we’re doing at the State Department. But we are all here today to celebrate and delve into HIAS’s report, “Invisible in the City: Protection Gaps Facing Sexual Minority Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Urban Ecuador, Ghana, Israel and Kenya.” This report is the result of a one-year qualitative and quantitative research project by HIAS including interviews with sexual minority refugees, refugee protection agents and civil society organizations. The report presents the ways society fails to protect sexual minority refugees and asylum seekers, as articulated by those most directly affected and offers recommendations for mitigating these gaps.

Sixty-six sexual minority refugees, asylum seekers and migrants and 92 representatives of governments, internal organizations and local civil society were interviewed in nine urban locations. One finding, reflected in the report’s title, is that sexual minority refugees and asylum seekers attempt to make themselves ‘invisible’ as a defense mechanism in homophobic environments. We also know that in refugee status determination interviews, these refugees do not frequently identify their cause of persecution as related to their sexual identity.

Mental health issues are of great concern. More than 40% of the respondents suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This may affect their ability to form relationships of trust, particularly in the midst of status determination interviews. So while the situation has improved, more needs to be done, in terms of awareness, training, and protection.

There is some person, somewhere in the world right now, who is suffering and feeling abandoned – just because of who he or she naturally is. That person may be out of our sight, but should not be beyond our reach. To me, the true core of “Invisible in the City” is about how our work benefits that one person. I salute HIAS for looking out for this person and seeking to help them. Let’s hope this report will impact not just our policies, but also safeguard the well-being of people all around the world.

Thank you.

Repost from The Economist 

American Christian zealots are fighting back against gay rights—abroad

IT MIGHT seem only a nasty coincidence. As gay rights advance in the West—France and New Zealand are the latest countries to legalise same-sex marriage—homophobia is on the rise elsewhere. But these apparently contradictory trends may be related. Confounded at home, a crusading squad of American conservative Christians are taking the fight abroad.

In an unusual case, brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a judge in Massachusetts is pondering a claim by Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a gay-rights group, against Scott Lively, a preacher and co-author of “The Pink Swastika” (which argues that Nazism was fuelled by homosexuality). Mr Lively visited Uganda in 2009, meeting politicians, appearing on television, and sharing his theories about homosexuals’ recruitment of youngsters.

Shortly afterwards a Ugandan MP introduced a parliamentary bill that would stiffen existing penalties for homosexual behaviour; among other drastic measures it mandated the death sentence for “aggravated” homosexuality. Amid a burst of anti-gay vitriol, and headlines such as “Hang Them, They Are After Our Kids”, a gay activist was murdered. SMUG alleges that, on this occasion and previously, Mr Lively conspired to persecute Ugandan homosexuals. He says he advocated therapy and prevention, not harsh punishments. Continue Reading

Download the report here.

The Obama Administration has made a commendable effort to catalog instances and trends of LGBT abuse worldwide. We were pleased that Secretary Kerry specifically lauded the Department’s expanded coverage of LGBT rights in a speech marking the release of this year’s reports.

Of no surprise, hate crimes top the list of violent actions directed against LGBT people in many countries. But even more appalling, are the numerous instances of government officials’ complicity in LGBT abuse. For instance:

• In Jamaica, prison wardens reportedly were involved in numerous incidents of violence against gay inmates.
• In Chile, gay prisoners were denied access to hygienic services.
• In Libya, a government-affiliated brigade arrested, detained, and beat 12 allegedly gay men who were at a private party.
• A military unit in Moldova beat two gay men while verbally abusing them on grounds of their sexual orientation.
• Cameroonian police detained three men, and jailed them for a week, because two of the men appeared effeminate; beat them until they confessed to being gay; then sentenced them to five years in prison.
• In El Salvador, police officers allegedly physically abused a gay teenager, then made a phone call after which three gang members appeared and beat the teenager further.
• In Kyrgyz Republic, LGBT groups documented 18 cases of police extortion.
• Zimbabwean police raided the offices of an LGBT support organization; arrested 44 of its members; outed those members to families and employers (with consequences to jobs and family ties); and effectively closed the organization.

Many country reports also offer clear examples in which government authorities failed to fulfill their responsibility to protect the rights of LGBT citizens. As examples:

• In El Salvador, for instance, police officers are alleged to have verbally and physically abused a 17-year-old gay adolescent, forcing him off a bus and then calling local gang members who beat the victim unconscious.
• In Namibia, police ridiculed LGBT citizens who reported abuse.
• When hundreds of demonstrators in Burkina Faso demanded that a gay couple leave their home, police took no protective action.
• And LGBT citizens in the former Soviet Union faced extreme challenges to their democratic freedoms of speech and assembly: in Ukraine, a gay pride event was canceled after police said they would not protect participants in the face of extremist threats of violence; in Russia, the city of Moscow refused to allow a gay pride march to proceed.

These and other cases of government action and inaction deserve serious protest, and we trust that the State Department has directed our ambassadors to make clear our government’s official concern. Equally important, we hope our embassies in these and other countries are using all other available diplomatic tools to raise the profile of LGBT rights, and are targeting our foreign assistance to respond to the needs of LGBT communities.

The 2012 reports also underscore a clear need for attention to infringements of the rights of transgender people, including cases of extreme violence and targeted killings:

• In Nicaragua the report highlights the murder of a young transgender woman, whose body was found with signs of sexual assault.
• Transgender individuals in Indonesia are routinely abused, detained, and forced to pay bribes by local authorities.
• Japanese authorities refused to list a married transgender man’s two-year-old son, who was conceived by artificial insemination, as a legitimate child.
• In Malaysia, transgender Muslim citizens were fined under Sharia law for dressing and posing as women.
• In Uganda, a local news station aired a video of police taunting a transgender individual by forcing the individual to undress in front of jeering onlookers.
• In the United Arab Emirates, a transgender sex worker was beaten, tortured, and raped repeatedly while in prison.

Unfortunately these cases are not unique. The reports bear witness to similar violations and indignities against transgender individuals in every region of the world. We hope that all embassies will examine more carefully the situation of transgender people in their host countries, with a view to raising awareness with government officials well in advance of next year’s reports.

Some of this year’s reports also indicate emerging areas of human rights concern:

• “Reparative Therapy”: The United Arab Emirates government forced some caught in consensual same-sex activity to undergo psychological treatment and counseling, while the Chinese government and some school districts promoted “reparative therapy” to avoid having LGBT children.
• Internet and Religious Freedom: LGBT religious groups in South Korea saw their internet forum taken down, and Korea’s National Human Rights Commission refused to rectify this infringement of religious freedom.

We urge the Administration to take suitable steps to address these new efforts at intolerance, which we know are spreading to other countries and regions.

We are not raising these country-specific examples from the reports because they are in any way unique. To the contrary, these specific instances are highlighted here because we know them to be extremely typical of violations we have seen replicated the world over. Our hope, however, is that the human rights reports will cast an uncommon light – and appropriate shame – on these common violations.

Finally, despite all of these concerns, we are encouraged by a number of positive signs that some governments are beginning to address inequalities in how LGBT people are treated. For instance:

• Colombian authorities created a national public policy framework for LGBT rights, along with a working group aimed at identifying problems of LGBT abuse and exclusion that call for community solutions.
• The Cypriot Ministry of Education allowed an anti-homophobia training program to be carried out for teachers, the first-ever LGBT awareness training allowed in that country’s schools.
• In Bangladesh, two government ministries led a pilot job training project for transgender citizens, instituted an awareness program to alter negative views of transgender people, and established a foundation through which the program can continue.
• Montenegro passed legislation to provide government funds for gender reassignment surgery.
• An Algerian gay rights group has been allowed to advertise advocacy and support efforts for the Algerian LGBT community through a website and Facebook account.
• Increased media freedom in Tunisia has increased the flow of LGBT-related information to members of the LGBT community.
• Kenyan LGBT advocacy organizations noted that homophobic hate speech had declined due to improved enforcement of hate speech laws and better media self-regulation.
• And Poland’s legislature now includes both openly gay and transgender members – a political process breakthrough that portends greater awareness of the rights of LGBT citizens in that country.

We applaud these instances of leadership in efforts to promote fully inclusive societies. They both echo and amplify the growing appreciation in our own country that LGBT citizens deserve nothing more, or less, than full dignity and equal treatment under the law.

Download the full compendium of sexual orientation and gender identity references in the report here.

Repost from Immigration Equality

This afternoon, the long-anticipated comprehensive immigration reform bill from the Senate’s “Gang of 8” will finally be introduced. It is a big, complex piece of legislation that addresses many different immigration issues. Our legal team is hard at work reading the bill and analyzing its many proposals, and what those mean for LGBT immigrants and their families.

We already know, however, some of the high – and low – points of the bill.

The legislation includes a path to citizenship for many undocumented people. It also includes the DREAM Act, which will allow young, undocumented youth (many of whom are LGBT) a path to citizenship as well. Both of these components will help countless immigrants – including LGBT immigrants – finally emerge from the shadows and have an opportunity to fully participate in the life of our country. The bill also includes repeal of the 1-year filing deadline for individuals seeking asylum in the United States, which is a significant obstacle faced by many LGBT asylum seekers. Immigration Equality supports all of these important measures.

As we anticipated, however, the base bill does not include the Uniting American Families Act. (A “base bill” is the first version of the legislation, before any lawmakers have an opportunity to make amendments, or changes, to the language.)

UAFA’s exclusion renders the bill incomplete. It is not comprehensive and is does not reflect the values or diversity of our country. Senators on the Judiciary Committee must allow a full and open amendment process that provides an opportunity to add UAFA as an amendment during that process.  We need a majority of Committee members to support adding UAFA to the bill. This means the time is NOW to contact Judiciary Committee Senators and demand they vote for UAFA during the amendment process. Continue Reading

Oslo was the wrap up event after regional meetings took place earlier this year in Latin America, Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. Over 200 governmental and non-governmental delegates were invited to Oslo for an event co-hosted by South Africa and Norway, representing over 60 countries for two days of intense discussions and debates. Highlights of the conference included video messages from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as well as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillar. Both strongly called for a new mechanism to regularly track and report on human rights abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as chronicle promising practices for combating such abuses. Many side conversations about promising developments took place with government representatives in attendance. Moldovan government officials talked about their new Equality Council, which will launch in the summer to help implement their new Anti-Discrimination Law, which should help protect against anti-LGBT bias. Vietnam is revising their Family Law, and the government is seriously considering expanding the definition of family to be fully inclusive of same-sex relationships. Many other governments discussed both their problems as well as their practices in addressing discrimination and violence.

The Council for Global Equality participated in two regional pre-meetings together with two of our member organizations, the National Center for Transgender Equality as well as the National Center for Lesbian Rights. We drew attention to the many issues here in the United States that stand in the way of full equality for LGBT Americans. We also worked with our colleagues from the regions to ensure that the array of LGBT human rights concerns would be addressed in the next steps that the UN Human Rights Council takes in its next resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Council was very pleased that the United States government’s participation in this important process was strong and steadfastly supportive of its LGBT citizenry, as well as its commitments to LGBT people globally. Other governments, particularly South Africa, were similarly clearly supportive of moving the bar higher in the next iteration of this resolution coming up in June. LGBT advocates and supportive governments around the world are ready to encourage additional governmental co-sponsors of the coming resolution, as well as to ensure that the 47 members of the HRC vote in favor of it’s passage. As Ban Ki -Moon said in his video message to the conference: Together we can make the world safer, freer, and more equal for everyone.