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Information paper on protection against sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sexual characteristics (SOGIESC) discrimination

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Information paper on protection against sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sexual characteristics (SOGIESC) discrimination

This paper examines the legal protections afforded to people with diverse SOGIESC in ILO member states in relation to employment discrimination. The paper outlines relevant international and regional human rights law treaties, the supervisory observations of treaty bodies, action taken by the UN and the ILO, and protections in national laws.

The paper begins by providing an overview of the discrimination faced by LGBTI+ persons in ILO member states. The paper then outlines international human rights law frameworks against discrimination with regard to people with diverse SOGIESC. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), nine principal human rights treaties and Convention No. 111 are highlighted as the most relevant frameworks. The paper notes that none of the international human rights conventions directly refer to people with diverse SOGIESC. The Yogyakarta Principles are considered the most influential soft law on the protection of people with diverse SOGIESC.

The paper then outlines the application of human rights protections for people with diverse SOGIESC by international human rights treaty bodies. The protection of LGBTI+ persons against discrimination by regional human rights treaties and other organisations are analysed by region (the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia). Protections against employment discrimination in national laws are then discussed. Lastly, the paper examines the protection against discrimination on the grounds SOGIESC in the work of the Committee on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) and other ILO research and reports.

Toolkit for integrating LGBT rights activities into programming in the E&E region

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Toolkit for integrating LGBT rights activities into programming in the E&E region

This toolkit, written by former IGLHRC (now OutRight Action International) Executive Director Cary Alan Johnson, was designed to support USAID mission staff and implementing partners in making USAID programming more inclusive of the LGBT community in the Europe and Eurasia (E&E) region. The toolkit provides a glossary before moving into the main toolkit.

The toolkit begins with an overview of LGBT issues in the E&E region, considering religious intolerance, violence, familial rejection, structural discrimination and isolation despite the passage of anti-discrimination laws in some states. This section considers some of the intersectional factors for discrimination, such as socio-economic class, ethnic and linguistic minorities and lesbian women.

The toolkit then presents guiding principles for integrating LGBT issues into USAID development program. This lists the 10 steps for successful LGBT development programming and recommendations for donors, such as working effectively with LGBT communities requires understanding the diversity of LGBT communities. The following section provides an analysis of current (2014) USAID programming with recommendations for increasing LGBT inclusion, specifically through working with LGBT civil society organisations. This section provides an overview of the context, of existing programming, and entry points in USAID focal areas (Democracy and Governance; Health; and Economic Growth) as well as in the cross-cutting areas of working with people with disabilities, rural populations, Roma and other vulnerable groups.

The toolkit concludes with case studies from different states within the region.

Considering Bisexuality in the Humanitarian and Development Sector: Celebrating Bi-Visibility Day

Elena Robertson
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Considering Bisexuality in the Humanitarian and Development Sector: Celebrating Bi-Visibility Day

Bi-Visibility Day, also known as International Celebrate Bisexuality Day, has been marked each year since 1999 to highlight biphobia.  A person who is bisexual is someone who is romantically and sexually attracted to people of the same gender as themself, and to people of a different gender as themself. People who identify as bisexual make up the largest portion of the LGBTIQ+ community—but unfortunately, bisexuality is often mis-understood, made invisible, and used as a lever for discrimination.

Santy, a bisexual activist in South East Asia, reports that people think bisexuality is about being ‘two faced or greedy’ and she articulates that the stigma can be internalised – which can also play a role in negative physical and mental health outcomes. In her interview she explains that she and her partner were forced into rehabilitation, or what is commonly referred to as conversion therapy.  According to the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, so-called “therapeutic” measures includes forms of abuse like beatings, rape, electrocution, forced medication, confinement, forced nudity, verbal abuse and aversion therapy. It is a practice widely understood and experienced in the diverse SOGIESC community.

Nong Air, another bisexual activist we interviewed, said that as a bisexual woman, discrimination is harmful because “the community cannot believe that a woman can love men and women at the same time. The community do not believe in bisexuality. Bisexual community under the women umbrella are forced to marry and there are attempts for corrective rape to fix our sexual orientation.” She shares her experiences of intersectional discrimination of being a woman and being bisexual.

There isn’t a lot of research on bisexual people in humanitarian settings. We don’t know a lot about the specific needs and strengths of bisexual people and communities in humanitarian settings. We can, however, make some assumptions based on what we do know about pre-emergency marginalisation of people with diverse SOGIESC in general: pre-emergency marginalisation has a huge impact on education, family support, community support, livelihoods security, housing security, and many other issues that also affect people in marginalised groups. We also know that people who experience high levels of pre-emergency marginalisation have a harder time recovering from disasters and conflicts. But when we talk about the bisexual community, we’re talking about an under-researched group, where we have almost no information about the cultural nuances of bisexuality.

Reading Riska’s interview from Bali, she shares her experience saying, “being transpuan (a more current terminology for waria, or transgender woman) is already seen as an aberration in Indonesia; a bisexual transpuan is abysmal.” Riska’s identity as a bisexual transpuan means she has a specific experience—one we don’t know enough about.

History has shown us that sexual attraction and behaviours towards people with the same and different genders has existed across time and cultures. This is where the complexity of people really asserts itself. Where intersecting gender identities, gender expressions and sexual orientations ensures that there is no one size fits all experience and no one box to tick. Bisexuality is often mistakenly seen as an identity deeply connected to another (homosexual, or heterosexual) rather than an identity and experience in its own right.

But what does this have to do with international development or humanitarian contexts? The short but complex answer is that we’re are still finding out. There is so little information available. But if we look at some of the issues that bisexual activists are sharing—like the specific forms of discrimination bisexual people face, the misunderstandings and myths around bisexuality, and the ways in which bisexuality interacts with other identities—we can confidently say that there are many issues that deserve our attention.

As humans, we often unwittingly think in binaries. Black and white, young and old, homosexual and heterosexual, cisgender and transgender. But the reality is far more complicated, messier, and beautiful than binary thinking or binarism leads us to believe.

What I want is simple and not extravagant: Celebrating Bi-Visibility Day with Riska

Elena Robertson
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What I want is simple and not extravagant: Celebrating Bi-Visibility Day with Riska

Riska (she/her), a bisexual transpuan (another word for waria, akin to transgender woman) works as a property agent on the famous island of Gods, Bali. Apart from a property agent, she is an activist focusing on HIV/AIDS issues among Bali’s transpuan communities. Riska used to hide her bisexuality due to bullying she received from both heterosexual and the LGT communities.  Her bisexuality is considered, bi-ngung-sexual – a play on words from “bi” for bisexual; and from bingung, an Indonesian word for “confused.”

As a bisexual person, why is bi-visibility important to you?

It is important so that there is no bullying and discrimination including from fellow LGT friends. Almost every time when I say that I am bisexual in SOGIESC workshops I have participated in, the other participants would laugh at me. Luckily the trainer immediately reminded them that what they were doing was a form of bullying. Another similar story, during a workshop, my roommate, a woman, was afraid sharing a room with me because I am interested in women and men. It really is starting from stigma which turns into bullying and discrimination and ends up being persecution. Therefore, as people are exposed more to bisexuality as being seen as a ‘normal’ part of human sexuality, maybe it will no longer be considered as strange. Therefore bi-visibility day is important to end stigma.

How did you become a LGBTIQ+ activist?

I am actually unsure if I deserve the title. But people think that I am an activist, so I guess I am. I started being an LGBTIQ+ activist when I saw a fellow transpuan who was very sick. Somehow nobody seemed to care about her condition. At that time, I did not know any doctor nor clinic that could support her. I talked to Mami Vinolia from Kebaya (Keluarga Besar Waria Yogyakarta, or Yogyakarta Transgender Family) about the situation. She suggested that I take my friend to a clinic called Bali Medika. Long story short, my friend was HIV positive. I supported her psychologically – she was really upset. I stayed by her side during her treatment. My actions were acknowledged by Gaya Dewata Foundation. I was offered to be a member of their staff, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to accept it. Therefore, instead of being a staff, Gaya Dewata Foundation trained me to be a PE (Peer Educator) instead. I guess I have been doing a great job as a PE because the UNAIDS Country Director for Indonesia Tina Boonto sent me a message asking to meet in Bali for a discussion in October 2019. The following month, I received an assignment from Tina Boonto to coordinate the Transpuan Network Consolidation Meeting in Jakarta which involved nine  transpuans from various LGBTIQ+ organisations in Bali and Java.

What inspires you to advocate for social change?

We transpuan are not thieves, not criminals. We are not against the state, so there’s no reason to be considered as second-class citizens. We are considered to be social women–so why not just consider us as women? It’s as simple as that. If there are transpuans who commit a crime, then punish them for what they have done, not the whole transpun community. That’s how the media writes about us, which can be stigmatising. The media doesn’t mention someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity whenever a heterosexual cisgender person commit a crime, however, when it is a transpuan, the media seems to highlight our gender identity as if it was part of the cause why someone commits a crime. In this way we are targeted.

How long have you been involved in this work?

I moved to Bali ten years ago. So, I think I have been involved in the activism for around 5 years. I think I got to where I am now pretty quickly because I took a shortcut, in the sense that I approached the leaders of transpuan communities. Seniority in the communities still plays a big role. By working with the leaders to have a shared understanding, means it’s so much easier for the other transpuans to work with you.

If there was one change that you would like to see for LGBTIQ+ people, what would that change be?

What I want is very simple and not extravagant. I just want the elimination of discrimination and LGBTIQ+ friends to be considered part of the society. I believe that is the most important start so that LGBTIQ+ friends can focus on their jobs and their livelihoods. Other things such as same-sex marriage and others will be a consequence of the elimination of discrimination.

What are ways can humanitarian and development organisations support the inclusion of bisexual people?

I think bisexual people are the most closeted people compared to other sexual minority groups. They are considered the “anomaly” of the “anomalies”. They raise many people’s eyebrows even from the LGT communities. When a bisexual man brings another man, they are seen as gay; when he brings a woman, people see him as straight. This situation sort of hides them into only two categories: homosexual and heterosexual, and that makes them unseen. Therefore, bi-visibility day is very important to give more exposure to people so that people know that bisexuality is real and it is not just a phase in someone’s sexuality.

Thus related to the question, the most important thing humanitarian and development organisations must do to support the inclusion of bisexual people is acknowledging their existence. It can be done by making sure bisexual people are included in data aggregation.

What are some of the challenges you face in advocating for more inclusion of LGBTIQ+ people?

I still see people startle when they find out that the person who applies for a job turns out to be of a different gender than what is shown on the ID card. I once accompanied a friend, a transpuan, to a job interview. The interviewer rejected my friend because she was looking different than on her ID card. That situation discourages a lot of transpuans to even apply for a formal job. They just surrender to the situation. When that happens, I cannot do much.

What is next in your activism?

There are two things. I would love to see an organisation that doesn’t just focus on health – I think it is time for us to do something else other than health – but also on education; giving hard skills to transpuans so that they can have a social capital. We have seen NGOs giving money to transpuans, but that is unsustainable.

I also once visited several public health centres and hospitals that have STI/VCT services in Bali. I took note the address of the clinics, the work hours, the cost, etc, and I put that information on Facebook with the photos of the clinics. I did it without any financial support from anyone. I purely wanted to inform my friends so that they know where to get tests or support when they need one. However, due to financial limitations, I have stopped that. I made it to only visit around 18 clinics. I intend to continue that one day.

If there is acceptance, marginalisation will end: Celebrating Bi-Visibility Day with Nong Air

Elena Robertson
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If there is acceptance, marginalisation will end: Celebrating Bi-Visibility Day with Nong Air

Nong Air (she/her) is a previously stateless, cisgender bisexual woman. Nong Air is an activist with Sangsan, an organisation advocating for the rights of indigenous and stateless youth, including young women and the diverse SOGIESC community, in Northern Thailand. This interview was done by Edge Effect in collaboration with Sangsan Anakot Yaowachon development project, as our collective efforts to voice the non-English speaker community. Nong Air is one of our featured interviews as part of our celebration of Bi-Visibility Day (23 September).

As a bisexual person, why is bi-visibility important to you?   

Being LGBITQ+ in my community is unaccepted. There is a direct violation against people based on their expression, for example, a non-binary or transgender person gets direct violation as their expression is visible. The context is different for me who is a cis-bisexual woman. I am less visible and people know about my bisexuality only after I say it. Regardless, it’s still harmful because the community cannot believe that a woman can love men and women at the same time. The community do not believe in bisexuality. Bisexual community under the women umbrella are forced to marry and there are attempts for corrective rape to fix our sexual orientation.  

The other situation that I faced for being bisexual is related to my visibility at the community or schools and family acceptance. My sister is a trans woman and I am a bisexual woman. Our family have a normative expectation about us. It’s really hard for my family to accept reality.  

At schools, when a bisexual person like me try to explain ourselves, people don’t acknowledge us. There are different forms of discrimination against the bisexual community, it is different from trans or other expressions or identities in the LGBTIQ+ (ie. tomboy, transmen, masculine women, etc.). Sometimes it can be easier to be acknowledged as a masculine woman than as a bisexual woman. For example, when I inform my close friends (who are women) about my bisexuality, they rejected me and left me, and this is another issue related to biphobia.   

Overall, being bisexual is very important, because it’s my identity and I want to be represented in my community so there is no more lack of information, better acceptance and understanding on bisexuality issues locally or in the society in general. So, whomever I will have my relationship with, men or women, it will be acknowledged by society.  

How did you become an LGBTIQ+ activist?   

It started 2 years ago when I attended the Pride in the Humanitarian System (PITHS) consultation. I acknowledged my sexual orientation a long time ago, but I never thought about coming out. During the consultation I feel that I was in a safe space; it was cool and natural for everyone there to be who they are. I already worked for human rights issues then (ie. I helped over 100 people to get Thai citizenship and I worked for land rights for my indigenous community). I finally found that bisexuality is also as important as other LGBTIQ+ issues. All of us need to fight for our rights. That’s how my journey as an activist started.   

The other factor is the strong gender norm, the hyper-masculine and hyper-feminine and very binary construction within my indigenous community. If people do not fit in those expectations, they are blamed and targeted. People like me are often blamed by the community. I believe that we need to push for change because there is nothing wrong with being LGBTIQ+. So, I started encouraging SOGIESC inclusion in other human rights issues that I already advocated for.  

What inspires you to advocate for social change?   

It started with my life reality, my family and my community. Many of my communities are stateless, the ethnic minority are impacted by armed conflict, there is a lack of acceptance especially if you are a woman, in terms of leadership and participation, and no one had an idea about LGBTIQ+. It all started with that. Without Sangsan I would never understand about it. It’s already 2 years, and it would be a shame if I cannot speak of LGBTIQ+ while I speak and stood up for other issues. We (me and my sister) stand to defend LGBTIQ+ rights. Sangsan has worked for a long time in my community and last year, my family finally opened up and accepted their LGBITQ+ children. Our stories also helped other communities’ member to acknowledger us and the LGBTIQ+., This is a big step to my work as a young bisexual woman human rights defender and change maker.  

How long have you been involved in this work?  

I consider that I work as a human rights defender for 12 years since I started with Sangsan. It made me stood up for my dignity as a stateless indigenous young woman. The complexity of my identity as a young, indigenous, women and stateless, has never been acknowledged. I never had the space to bring my identity together, and LGBTIQ+ never address the issue of indigenous people. I never had any platform to explain who I am and to advocate for my rights. It’s difficult when we are not acknowledged by any movement or network, we have no space to speak or anyone to connect.   

Have you been involved in projects that focus on the inclusion of LGBTIQ+ people in humanitarian or development contexts? If so, what projects? What happened?   

Sangsan started to create space for young people, women, and LGBTIQ+ to come together and advocate for our human right situation and issues. So, the-space is not limiting us as a community, but opening spaces for us to connect with various networks and the movements.  

As a member and a youth volunteer of Sangsan for 12 years, our advocacy is not limited at the community level, we also advocate at the national, international and regional levels for the human rights issue and SOGIESC inclusion.  

We were scholarship students and that program continues so a lot of young people who cannot get support from their families will get access to education. There is also a human rights education program where we learn about human rights and how to uphold the rights when we are being violated. Without this, I would never know about human rights.   

What are some of the challenges you face in advocating for more inclusion of LGBTIQ+ people?   

As a young bisexual woman human rights defender, I faced a lot of challenges. For example, when we try to advocate at the international level, it was difficult to talk about our issues. At the ASEAN level, we were part of a regional platform, so we supported by regional organizations and it was possible to advocate. However, at the local level, I was discriminated by men who disagree with women leadership, people are also questioning why we are advancing the rights of stateless people instead of the Thai people, and most importantly, we were also discriminated by community leaders, all men, who have difficulties to accept that young women play crucial roles too.   

During a disaster, our community also blamed the LGBTIQ community and young advocate like me. During COVID-19 when our team tried to help the community; men and indigenous community leaders threatened our group and it made me scared. Before I became a Thai citizen, it was really hard to travel or to get an education. We have a financial crisis and we ran a project with minimum budget, but we did amazing work to handle that. There is also a security issue that I mentioned above as people threatened me by calling to my mobile phone. I fear the risks of kidnapping and forced disappearance as I advocate for land right and there is a lot of people and agency involved. When I travel, I need to ensure that I should not be alone, so overall, the mentality in this issue is very challenging.   

If there was one change that you would like to see for LGBTIQ+ people, what would that change be?   

I want acceptance, especially of young bisexual people; from our family and society. So, we will live in better conditions. We will no longer be marginalized by our family, community and even our schools, so we can stay in school because as an indigenous community education is very important as we cannot return home. If there is acceptance, marginalization will end.  

What are ways can humanitarian and development organisations support the inclusion of bisexual people?  

Include bisexual people. Any development/ humanitarian actors need to ensure that bisexual people are included. For example, around the world there is a lack of presentation, voice and participation of bisexual, so the inclusion of bisexual is by including us and our stories. For example, in Chiang Mai we conducted Pride march for 2 years in a row, there is high visibility of Trans, but low visibility of cisgender women, including bi women, and that’s important to change. 

We have the right to love more than people of one gender: Celebrating Bi-Visibility Day with Santy

Elena Robertson
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We have the right to love more than people of one gender: Celebrating Bi-Visibility Day with Santy

Santy (name has been changed for security reasons; she/her) is a bisexual human rights activist. Through her work, Santy connects the diverse SOGIESC community with safe spaces to engage in dialogues around topics including consent, mutual responsibility, human rights, and religion.

As a bisexual person, why is bi-visibility important to you?  

Bisexual visibility is very important. Most people have not received sufficient information on bisexuality, so there is a lot of negative stigma, such as being two-faced or greedy. Many of the bisexual community view themselves according to those negative stigmas. I experienced the stigma and I was judged as the two-faced greedy person. I used to think like that of myself, but over time I learned that there is no mistake of loving someone regardless of their sex or gender. I am not a greedy two-faced person; I am simply someone who love other people whether they are male, men, female, women, short hair, long hair, with penis or vagina; and there is no mistake in love. We have the rights to love more than people of one gender.  

How did you become an LGBTIQ+ activist?  

I was a victim of persecution by state actors when I was still living at in my previous hometown.  My partner and I were arrested, put into a ‘rehabilitation’ centre and forced to return to ‘normal’. We did not break any law, but we were not treated as human. They justified their treatments because, for them, we were sinners who went against the order of nature. I was very young, and I did not understand about human rights back then. Through my recovery process, I met with many people and I became aware of human rights. We can be whomever we want and feel attracted to anyone we like. We have the rights to life, housing, education, freedom of expression, and free of discrimination. 

I never asked to be who I am. The feeling and attraction just came as it is. Why would other people feel they have the rights to limit my attraction? That is just not right.

So, I do this because I don’t want my friends to go through what I went through. 

What inspires you to advocate for social change?

I believe in human rights. I believe as LGBTIQ+ people, we have the rights to be who we are and be happy just like other people. 

How long have you been involved in this work?

It all started right after my persecution, so it’s been several years now.

What are some of the challenges you face in advocating for more inclusion of LGBTIQ+ people?  

My focus is mainly on the LBQT community, though I always contribute to support other friends in the LGBTIQ+ community. We discussed SOGIESC, humanity and human rights together. Self-acceptance is a primary issue within the community. Many of them asked me about religion and acceptance. I understand it, but I am not confident enough to explain queer theology to them. It’s better to discuss this in a big group or bring the expert as religion is a very sensitive topic in our context.

Consent is another challenging topic; we think we understand it but we still face a lot of challenges to put it into practice. Finding a safe space to gather as a community is also very challenging. We need to have a security system in place, we need to find reasons for our families, especially if we want to go away for more than a day. We can’t even use human rights as a reason because there is a generally negative perception of human rights in our context. Once we made it out, we still feel worried if our community event is going to be distracted as the impact home is going to be significant. From time to time we get tired, we find strengths, then we continue. 

We mostly connect with our peers in community discussions, how to deal with stigma, violence and discrimination. We learned about humanity and support each other psychologically in facing the challenges. We don’t have many allies yet, even from the CSOs network due to the sensitivity of our issue. Many of them reject us. We slowly engage them, converse with them so they can increase their understanding and acceptance to us. 

If there was one change that you would like to see for LGBTIQ+ people, what would that change be?  

No more violence and discrimination towards LGBTIQ+ community.

What are ways can humanitarian and development organisations support the inclusion of bisexual people?

We must support everyone regardless if they are LGBTIQ+. We must support each other as a human without putting our SOGIESC on the way. We focus on their needs and support them fairly in ways that we can/ responsible to. For example, if an LGBTIQ+ community-managed beauty parlour is damaged because of an earthquake, then we help them. The same thing applies to support the inclusion of bisexual people. Engage us, understand our needs and assist us to access the services according to our needs. 

Feminist and Queer Charter of Demands in Response to COVID-19 in Nepal

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Feminist and Queer Charter of Demands in Response to COVID-19 in Nepal

This charter, originally drafted by UN Women Nepal and adapted by a number of queer and feminist organisations, makes specific demands on the Government of Nepal for an inclusive COVID-19 response. The charter first provides definitions of relevant terms with caveats where some members have disagreed with the relevance of a term. The charter then makes demands of the state. These demands include recognising the specific needs of women healthcare workers; addressing the increased care burden on women–including on women in same-gender relationships; and a scaled-up and inclusive gender based violence response that is relevant to women and girls in all their diversity, trans men, non-binary and third gender people, people with intersex variations and people with diverse sexual orientations, specifically in ensuring that toll-free GBV helplines are responsive to all people.

Ensuring transgender people can access gender affirming healthcare and aid without the barrier of identification is a significant demand. This demand in particular is bolstered with real-life examples and points to other regional bodies who have made similar arguments.

Each demand is listed and then elaborated upon. Some demands point to existing services and the gaps within services or areas where they could (and should) be scaled-up. Increased representation of women and queer people is a theme throughout. The charter lists all of the endorsing organisation, including Queer Youth Group, Blue Diamond Society, Women for Human Rights Single Women Group, National Indigenous Disabled Women Association Nepal, UN Women Nepal, APTN, and a number of individuals, such as journalists, researchers and activists, who signed the charter independent or in the absence of an associated organisation.

Neither Here nor There: The Bisexual Struggle for American Asylum

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Neither Here nor There: The Bisexual Struggle for American Asylum

This academic journal article argues the specific challenges bisexual asylum seekers, who are claiming asylum on grounds of sexual orientation, face in the refugee status determination (RSD) process. The article opens with a background on the United States’ asylum seeking processes/ Until the early 1990s, people who engaged in same-sex relations were universally banned from entering the United States on humanitarian grounds; in 1979, this was extended to bisexual people, or to any person who admitted to having engaged in same-sex sexual relations. These laws have changed, and current asylum laws cover persecuted bisexual people in the same manner as other persecuted groups.

The paper then provides an overview of the asylum process in the United States and the role of individual Immigration Judges in granting asylum. This section is substantiated through legal precedent. The concept of immutability is explored at length starting in this section. The following section specifically considers the difficulties in sexual minority asylum claims, considering the role of asylum officers and judges; judicial bias and misunderstanding; and specific challenges for bisexual asylum seekers. The latter section uses Sempagala v Holder, wherein a bisexual man was denied asylum because he could not prove his bisexuality or that he feared persecution in Uganda, as a case study on the ways judicial bias and misunderstanding can affect bisexual applicants. This section highlights the ways that misunderstandings around and biases against bisexual people have a serious impact on asylum applications.

The paper then moves into a discussion of the changing views of immutability (the immutability of a persecuted characteristic, such as sexual orientation, is the crux of asylum claims). This section also discusses the myth that applicants will claim to be bisexual/gay/lesbian in order to gain asylum. The article then considers the legal precedent set in United States v Windsor, wherein the United States Supreme Court handed down a ruling that progressed a more nuanced understanding of sexual orientation in respect to asylum seeking. The paper then moves into a conclusion calling upon the United States legal system to adapt its understanding of sexuality across cultures.

Silencing Our Fears and Fearing Our Silence: A report of the 8th Convening of the Uganda Feminist Forum

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Silencing Our Fears and Fearing Our Silence: A report of the 8th Convening of the Uganda Feminist Forum

The report presents the outcomes and a summary of the 8th Uganda Feminist Forum (UFF, held 30 July-1 August 2019) held in Jinja, Uganda. The report opens with an introduction on the objectives of UFF. A summary of each of the three days of events follows.

The report includes brief summaries of each of the topics discussed, including a historical overview of the UFF and collective reflection on the Charter of Feminist Principles for African Feminists. The Forum included multiple panels, including one on packaging resistance, which featured queer feminist Muganzi Ruth who spoke on on ‘packaging resistance through daring heteronormativity.’ Day two included a panel on ‘silence on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression,’ where members discussed the intersection of patriarchy and heteronormativity in discrimination against LBQ women in Uganda. This summary profiles each of the panelists, including the Executive Director of FARUG. Other summaries discuss field visits to women’s shelters and action planning.

This report highlights intersectional Ugandan feminism, including the importance of reflection and connection for healing.

Hate No More Campaign: A report from the second phase

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Hate No More Campaign: A report from the second phase

This report details the actions taken by the Hate No More Campaign as part of their work to combat homophobia in Uganda. Launched in 2012, the Hate No More Campaign was funded by various international institutions and was run on the twin strategies of awareness-raising through posters and dialogue with policy makers and people of high ‘moral standing’ in Uganda.

The report presents the findings of the second phase of the campaign, which was focused on changing attitudes in human rights organisations, government branches and other influential entities in the Kampala area.

The report details the various meetings attended and presentations given by members of the campaign. Meetings with Crested Crane Lighters, a sex worker organisation, the Most at Risk Populations Initiative, a health provision initiative, and with the Chief Administrative Officer in Mukono district, as well as other meetings, are detailed.

The report presents the achievements of the campaign (including that a majority of visits were hospitable and a minority hostile), the challenges (including being asked for identity documents by political actors, and overall lack of finances to support volunteers) and recommendations (including providing field staff with identity documents and further engaging the public.) The report closes with an appendix detailing Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, a Ugandan LGBT rights activist.

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