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How can we tolerate anti-LGBTQ rhetoric at a major human rights forum?
Source: The Guardian
How can we tolerate anti-LGBTQ rhetoric at a major human rights forum?
Gillian Kane
Even in the aftermath of the Orlando shooting, the Organisation
of American States is under attack from religious groups over its
support of LGBTQ people
Wednesday 15 June 2016 11.59 BST
The day after the largest shooting in recent US history, the Organisation of American States began its 46th general assembly in the Dominican Republic.
The OAS, of which the US is a member, is the regional body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights and democracy in the western hemisphere. The annual assembly, which is intended as a civilised forum attended by governments and civil society, dissolved into a vulgar display of extreme homophobia when secretary general Luis Almagro asked participants for a moment of silence for the Orlando victims. When Almagro called the act a hate crime, the audience booed, waving flags demanding “No to gender ideology”.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
The few human rights mechanisms available to protect vulnerable populations are under attack by religiously motivated groups that insist rights for women, gay people, trans people, among others, are a direct threat to their faith. The OAS, precisely because it is willing to consider – and in many cases advance – rights for women and LGBTQ people, is a main target for religious conservatives, many based in the US, who want to shut it down.
The OAS is already in crisis. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which is responsible for addressing human rights violations in Latin America and the Caribbean, is on the verge of collapse. Member states are not paying their dues, and last month the IACHR announced the suspension of its hearings, country visits, and cuts to 40% of its staff. All of this serves the purposes of the religious right, which aims not just to delegitimise the institution, but simply wants it gone.
On the day of the Orlando massacre, the hatred within the general assembly (GA) was matched by protesters outside. Organised by the Catholic Church, with support from evangelicals, marchers dressed in white formed a huge procession down the beachfront in Malecón, waving flags and posters condemning the OAS, abortion and LGBTQ rights. Protesters said the OAS was trying to impose an international gay agenda, which was a direct affront to their family values. The inclusion of gender, they insist, is the basis for promoting abortion and same sex marriage, all threats to their religion and their children.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Gillian Kane
Even in the aftermath of the Orlando shooting, the Organisation
of American States is under attack from religious groups over its
support of LGBTQ people
Wednesday 15 June 2016 11.59 BST
The day after the largest shooting in recent US history, the Organisation of American States began its 46th general assembly in the Dominican Republic.
The OAS, of which the US is a member, is the regional body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights and democracy in the western hemisphere. The annual assembly, which is intended as a civilised forum attended by governments and civil society, dissolved into a vulgar display of extreme homophobia when secretary general Luis Almagro asked participants for a moment of silence for the Orlando victims. When Almagro called the act a hate crime, the audience booed, waving flags demanding “No to gender ideology”.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
The few human rights mechanisms available to protect vulnerable populations are under attack by religiously motivated groups that insist rights for women, gay people, trans people, among others, are a direct threat to their faith. The OAS, precisely because it is willing to consider – and in many cases advance – rights for women and LGBTQ people, is a main target for religious conservatives, many based in the US, who want to shut it down.
The OAS is already in crisis. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which is responsible for addressing human rights violations in Latin America and the Caribbean, is on the verge of collapse. Member states are not paying their dues, and last month the IACHR announced the suspension of its hearings, country visits, and cuts to 40% of its staff. All of this serves the purposes of the religious right, which aims not just to delegitimise the institution, but simply wants it gone.
On the day of the Orlando massacre, the hatred within the general assembly (GA) was matched by protesters outside. Organised by the Catholic Church, with support from evangelicals, marchers dressed in white formed a huge procession down the beachfront in Malecón, waving flags and posters condemning the OAS, abortion and LGBTQ rights. Protesters said the OAS was trying to impose an international gay agenda, which was a direct affront to their family values. The inclusion of gender, they insist, is the basis for promoting abortion and same sex marriage, all threats to their religion and their children.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/jun/15/anti-lgbtq-rhetoric-organisation-american-states-human-rights-orlando-shooting
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