UN First LGBT Report Cites Human Rights Violations

via Queerty, by Evan Mulvihill

It’s been a good year for making strides toward international gay rights, all things considered.

Hillary Clinton made a great speech before the UN in Geneva championing gay rights as synonymous with human rights last week.

And today, more progress, as the world’s top governing body has released its first-ever report on the status of human rights (full PDF here).

After reviewing reports of the violence and oppression that LGBT people have endured in various corners of the globe, the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded that,”a pattern of human rights violations emerges that demands a response… Further action is now needed, especially at the national level, if individuals are to be better protected from such human rights violations in future.”

And what are they going to do about it? Well, the High Commissioner recommends that UN states “investigate promptly all reported killings and other serious incidents of violence perpetrated against individuals because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity… and hold perpetrators accountable, and establish systems for the recording and reporting of such incidents.”

We’d prefer that he mandated such actions, but we’ll take incremental steps forward over big steps backward any day.

Now how do we get the nations that were not quite tickled pink by Clintons speech to read the damned report?


Read the rest

U.N. council passes gay rights resolution

via CNN ,by Jill Dougherty

 In what the U.S. State Department is calling a "historic step," the U.N. Human Rights Council passed a resolution Friday supporting equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation.

The resolution, introduced by South Africa, is the first-ever U.N. resolution on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons.

It passed with 23 votes in favor, 19 opposed and three abstentions amid strong criticism of South Africa by some African nations.

Suzanne Nossel, deputy assistant secretary of state for international organizations, told CNN, "It really is a key part in setting a new norm that gay rights are human rights and that that has to be accepted globally."

"It talks about the violence and discrimination that people of LGBT persuasion experience around the world," she said, "and that those issues ... need to be taken seriously. It calls for reporting on what's going on, where people are being discriminated against, the violence that is taking place, and it really puts the issue squarely on the U.N.'s agenda going forward."


Read more.

Hillary Lovin' on the Gays

Human rights are gay rights and gay rights are human rights.



Worth watching… Hillary Clinton addressed State dept. workers and others yesterday to mark Pride. In her speech she speaks extensively (and passionately) on international LGBT issues.

Clinton Announces Plan to Fight HIV/AIDS At Home And Abroad

Will Double Research Funding & Support Evidence-Based Prevention Programs

The Clinton campaign unveiled its plan to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S. and around the world. The comprehensive approach addresses the multiple challenges that HIV/AIDS has presented for over 25 years and includes investments for increased research, prevention and education, and access to treatment and other services. Hillary’s plan would especially help groups in the U.S. that have seen HIV infection rates rise over the past several years, including African Americans and gay men, and address the continued risk in Latino communities and among women. In addition, Clinton has pledged to increase funding for the global HIV/AIDS fight to at least $50 billion by 2013.

Read the rest.

Clinton Signs Pledge To Commit To Fight Against HIV/AIDS

via today's Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS report

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, recently signed a pledge to commit to investing $50 billion by 2013 to fight HIV/AIDS domestically and worldwide, the New York Times reports. Clinton also plans to issue a formal policy on the disease, according to the Times (Seelye, "The Caucus," New York Times, 10/26).

The Global AIDS Alliance Fund and other groups have called on U.S. presidential candidates to sign the pledge, which asks candidates to commit $50 billion to HIV/AIDS efforts. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) was the first candidate to sign the pledge. On the groups' Web site -- 08stopaids.org -- there is a citizen's pledge that calls on voters to urge the next U.S. president to "create, support and fund a comprehensive plan to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic" (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 10/22).

According to the Times, ACT UP, an HIV/AIDS advocacy coalition, had been planning a demonstration on Tuesday in Philadelphia -- where the Democratic candidates are scheduled to participate in a debate -- to protest Clinton because she had not signed the pledge. Clinton signed the pledge shortly after being contacted by the Times. According to a statement from Clinton's campaign, she has "been working on a formal AIDS policy that she will be unveiling in the near future." The statement added that Clinton "already supports investing $50 billion over the next five years to fight global AIDS and advocates a comprehensive approach to fighting AIDS both here and abroad."

According to the Times, former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), both of whom are running for the Democratic presidential nomination, have not signed the pledge. Kaytee Riek -- a member of ACT UP and Health GAP, which is co-sponsoring the Tuesday demonstration -- said the demonstration originally had been directed toward Clinton rather than the other candidates because "she's the front-runner," even though she has had a "spectacular" record on HIV/AIDS policy. Riek added that because Clinton has signed the pledge, the focus of the demonstration likely will shift to encouraging all candidates to discuss HIV/AIDS during their campaigns.

Edwards was the first candidate to issue a comprehensive, $50 billion HIV/AIDS plan, the Times reports. Obama has said that if elected, he would increase foreign spending to $50 billion annually for several projects, including increased treatment access for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Obama in his "millennium development goals" said he would "dedicate as much funding to HIV/AIDS as possible ... to ensure a comprehensive fight against this global pandemic" ("The Caucus," New York Times, 10/26).

Hillary?

So, you gonna vote for her?

Clinton, Obama to vote against Holsinger for post

Read the whole Washington Blade story here.

“Because of the questions that have been raised about Dr. Holsinger’s qualifications and ability to fulfill the duties of the job, I do not believe that he will be able to provide adequate leadership in the public health field as Surgeon General, and I must go on record as opposing his nomination,” Clinton said in a statement.

In a statement released on June 7, Obama said, “America’s top doctor should be a doctor for all Americans, and so I have serious reservations about nominating someone who would inject his own anti-gay ideology into critical decisions about the health and well-being of our nation.”