Sources: Support the LGTBTQIA+ community

Solution 
An intersectional problem like this requires several solutions. Some interventions recommended by The United Nations and other large international human rights organisations are: protection from violence and ill-treatment, repealing laws that criminalize LGBTQIA+ people and safeguarding their freedom of expression and peaceful assembly [10,11]. 

Charitable organisations working for the LGBTQIA+ community adhere to these recommendations in many ways. A big part of their work is to advocate for LGBTQIA+ people’s human rights, making sure their voices are heard and facilitating strategic legal lawsuits to bring attention to urgent issues. This is how change happens in national and international legal systems

On a more individual level, organisations work to strengthen the community and the movement by creating safe spaces, nurturing activists, and supporting LGBTQIA+ people in daily struggles.

Facts and Figures

  • The 4 most common forms of human rights violations affecting LGBT people are: 

    • Violent attacks

    • Discriminatory criminal laws

    • Discriminatory curbs on free speech

    • Discriminatory treatment in everyday life

  • 76 countries (44% of the population) still criminalize same sex marriage [7]. 

  • Reports show that around the world, social acceptance has been increasing [8].  

  • Incidents of violence or discrimination against LGBT individuals are often unreported because the victims either do not trust the police or are afraid of being “outed” or violated further [9].

  • In 2016, between 11 and 28 percent of LGB workers in the U.S.A report losing a promotion simply because of their sexual orientation, and 27 percent of transgender workers report being fired, not hired, or denied a promotion [3].

Solution
An intersectional problem like this requires several solutions. Some interventions recommended by The United Nations and other large international human rights organisations are: protection from violence and ill-treatment, repealing laws that criminalize LGBTQIA+ people and safeguarding their freedom of expression and peaceful assembly [10,11]. 

Charitable organisations working for the LGBTQIA+ community adhere to these recommendations in many ways. A big part of their work is to advocate for LGBTQIA+ people’s human rights, making sure their voices are heard and facilitating strategic legal lawsuits to bring attention to urgent issues. This is how change happens in national and international legal systems

On a more individual level, organisations work to strengthen the community and the movement by creating safe spaces, nurturing activists, and supporting LGBTQIA+ people in daily struggles.

Sources

  1. LGBTI Equality: Frequently asked Questions (info sheet

  2. Amnesty International: LGBTI Rights (link)

  3. Center for American Progress: Widespread Discrimination Continues to Shape LGBT People’s Lives in Both Subtle and Significant Ways (link)

  4. OHCHR: Combatting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (link)

  5. Human Rights Watch: Equality to brutality: global trends in LGBT rights (link)

  6. United Nations: Human Rights Council: Discrimination and violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity (assembly report

  7. International Day Against Homophobia (link)

  8. UCLA - Williams Institute: Social acceptance of LGBT people in 174 countries, 1981-2017 (research paper)

  9. Advocates for youth: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Youth in the Global South (link)

  10. OHCHR: Born Free and Equal - Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Sex Characteristics in International Human Rights Law (report

United Nations: International Human Rights Law and Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity (report)