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Reframing the Global LGBTQ+ Narrative: Family, Tradition, and Spirituality
9 April @ 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM UTC-5
The NGO Committee on Human Rights
Presents:
Reframing the Global LGBTQ+ Narrative; Family, Tradition, and Spirituality
Time and location:
Tuesday, April 9th, 2024 from 1 pm to 3 pm.
11th floor Church Center (East 44th St. and 1st Avenue)
Please use this link to reserve a spot:
https://forms.gle/
Concept Note
Resisting and countering harmful narratives and celebrating the integral role of LGBTQ+ people in society.
While there have been many advances toward the expansion and protection of the rights of the rights of sexual orientation/gender identity human rights since the June 1969 Stonewall uprising/resistance We are now witnessing troubling regression in the progress toward equality. Anti-LGBTQ+ bills passed in Uganda and Ghana and new ones are pending in Kenya and Zambia. According to Human Rights Watch, at least 67 countries have national laws criminalizing consensual relations between same-sex adults, and at least nine countries have laws criminalizing the expression of gender identity that does not align with the individual’s assigned sex at birth.
In the United States, for example, at least 520 laws that violate sexual orientation/gender identity human rights were introduced in state legislatures in 2023, of which 70 were enacted, according to the Human Rights Campaign. In 2023, the Ugandan government enacted a series of laws that criminalize same-sex relations with punishment up to and including the death penalty. In 2022, “LGBT propaganda” became illegal in Russia, prohibiting the expression of LGBTQ identity in any public medium.
These discriminatory and dangerous policies are actively harming the LGBTQ community, and represent a troubling regression in progress that has been made toward equal protection. Our panel of speakers will share their experiences working to combat anti-LGBTQ+ forces. We invite you to join in this fight for full equality.
Program:
Welcome, and introduction;
Dr. Bobbi Nassar
Co-Chair NGO Committee on Human Rights
International Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers
Panelists:
Mr. Bruce Knotts
Co-Chair NGO Committee on Human Rights
Chair of the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security
World Federalist Movement
Presentation:
History of the LGBT Struggles in the United States
Mr. Edafe Okporo
Executive Director of Refuge America
Presentation:
A global gay rights activist he founded Refuge America as a welcoming place for displaced LGBTQ people. He is committed to offering a lifeline to those who have been compelled to escape their homelands due to persecution. Migrated from Warri, Nigeria Author of Asylum, A Memoir and Manifesto (1922).
Dr. Elizabeth Zick,
UN Representative for the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
Adjunct Associate Professor at Long Island University
Presentation:
LGBT Asylum Seekers in the United States
Moderated by
Mr. Fabrice Houdart
Founding partner of KoppaLab; an NGO focused on the economic empowerment of LGBTQ+ people. Adjunct Professor Columbia University/Georgetown