...United Nations Background Guide on LGBTQ Rights The Human Rights Council: The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system and a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly. The Human Rights Council, which replaced the former United Nations Commission on Human Rights, was created by the General Assembly on March 15 2006 by resolution 60/251 and it has as its designated meeting place, the UN Office at Geneva (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) It is made of up of 46 United Nations Member states which are elected by the UN General Assembly. The latter states are assigned with the responsibility of strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the world. They are elected by the majority of the members of the General Assembly of the United Nations through direct and secret ballot. The chosen members of the council serve for a period of three years and are not eligible for immediate re-election after serving two consecutive terms (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) Membership to the Council is based on equitable geographical distribution. The seats are allocated as follows: 12345African States: 13 seats Asian States: 13 seats Latin American and Caribbean States: 8 seats Western European and other States: 7 seats Eastern European States: 6 seats The Council as a whole has its main purpose grounded in addressing human rights violations around the world and finding...
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...Imagine this, the LGBTQ community and heterosexuals switch places in society. Straight people are treated the way gay people are treated now. You are one of the straight people. You are out in public. People see you with your partner and they look away or shoot you a dirty look. Sometimes even throw a slur or two at you. Maybe even chase you down the street, threatening to kill you. Imagine this: You are in a bar, with some of your other straight friends. Just having a good time, relaxing. Next thing you know, you are crawling on the ground. You hear gunshots and screams of pain. You pass by your dead friends. You see their bodies are painted with bullet holes and blood stains. All this happened, just because you were straight. How would you feel, constantly getting made fun of and hated, just because of the person you love or have feelings for. It would feel great wouldn’t it? Or would it feel like no one accepts you for who you are. This is what happens to the LGBTQ community in the world we live in. They are mistreated, killed, and loved and supported by the creation of laws and LGBTQ rights leaders. You wouldn’t want it to happen to you, so why do you let it happen to them? Stand up. Be strong, and make your voice heard. Let the world know, that you will stand for change....
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...2. How did they attempt to gain their rights? There were many negative situations and actions towards the LGBTQ community especially in the 1960’s. Many people did not respect lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, and queers. In 1964, the first LGBTQ organization was formed in San Francisco which was called National Transsexual Counseling (NTC) and was later developed into the Society of Individual Rights (SIR) that opened up in 1966. The organization helped the LGBTQ community gain many rights. LGBTQ people attempted to gain their rights by riots against the police even til this day. Also they have started organizations, protests, and much more to aim for their rights. The gay pride parades gave people encouragement “to come out...
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...Obama repealed the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, which legally recognized LGBTQ+ identities and allowed them to be open about their identity and serve in the United States Armed Forces. The repeal of this policy essentially gave validation to LGBTQ+ identities and changed this idea that LGBTQ+ individuals should be hiding who they truly are in order to fulfill social standards and the federal policies that were once in place. The repeal of this act empowered LGBTQ+ individuals and influenced more positive progression in regards to LGBTQ+ rights. On February 23, 2011, just two months before the Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Cole case, the Obama Administration successfully decided that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. The Defense of...
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...LGBTQ+ Activism and the Gay Rights Movement The United States LGBTQ+ community has long been a marginalized group who has struggled greatly with discrimination, bigotry, and institutional homophobia. While there are still advancements that must be made in order for full liberation of LGBTQ+ individuals to be achieved, the LGBTQ+ community has made critical and significant strides in terms of institutional and social liberation over the past few decades. These accomplishments would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of LGBTQ+ activists and the gay rights movement. LGBTQ+ activism and the gay rights movement have been responsible for massive political change, and has influenced the ways in which marginalized groups organize....
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...The LGBTQ community is a nationally recognized health organization in Australia, formed in August 2007 at the parliament house. The LGBTQ community originally started out with their main focus being on the treatment and research of HIV and AIDS; however, they soon saw the need to mold the organization into one that covers a more diverse range of issues, one in particular being the promoting of same sex equality and marriage equality in Australia. In 2008, the LGBTQ community put into place legally sound organisational structures in order to form an independent national membership based organisation. This led to the LGBTQ community becoming a not for profit company governed by a constitution as well as a board of Directors. In July of 2009, the LGBTQ community granted membership to other nongovernmental organisations in order to gain strength in numbers and greater support for their causes. The LGBTQ website lists 90 registered groups that support the LGBTQ community; several well recognized groups who stand out in particular are Beyond Blue, who are an Australian, independent non for profit organization working to address issues associated with Depression and associated mental health disorders, the Gay and Lesbian Foundation of Australia (GALFA) who are a charitable foundation dedicated to providing funding support for the betterment of same...
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...Accordingly, homosexuality was illegal in the Nazi Germany and it would not suffice since majority of the population were against the trend. Evidently, it was suggested that people should find a specific artifact that would differentiate straight people from gays. Identification of the pink tringle was a significant development in the fight as the society had clustered the population. On this note, gays would be identified by wearing the object on their breast pocket while straight people would not be wearing any (Mallon, 24). Evidently, this shows that the image was used to differentiate the people into two groups due to distinctiveness in their sexuality. Thus, in the first category, all the LGBTQs had to wear a pink tringle to symbolize their considerably unusual...
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...LGBTQ+ Representation in the Media The media has become a protuberant fraction of our society today, as we rely on it for coverage on the presidential election, the weather, the traffic, and using it to form our opinions on subjects we would not know much about without it, but how does the media affect the way the LGBTQ+ community is seen and treated? From Russia to America, LGBTQ+ laws are viewed worlds apart, with Russia concocting anti-gay laws, while America sustains marriage-equality, however, did the media have an impact on this? Does absence of representation in this medium account for the misunderstanding and lack of knowledge of LGBTQ+ people? These are the inquiries I would enjoy to discus as I think it is a tremendously important...
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...Gay rights has a major impact on today’s society whether we choose to believe it or not; for or against. Gay rights are becoming one of the more controversial topics being discussed around the America today. Gay rights should be recognized, there are many factors of gay rights that Americans do not completely understand, while times are changing gay rights is evolving from state to state there are still issues yet to be resolved. Today I will discuss three key topics when it comes to gay rights; gay rights in schools, arguments for and against gay, rights and gay rights in adoption. Gay rights has been a controversial topic for quite some time now; in public schools all over north America that last couple decades gay rights has been opened up and discussed. Openly gay students are coming together in a safe haven, where without judgment they can come together and support each other with any difficulties they may be facing. “Gay-straight alliances are a form of social support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) high-school students that emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These alliances are generally student-run social clubs akin to other high-school social groups, such as drama clubs, math teams, or yearbook clubs. However, one of the main purposes of gay-straight alliances is to provide support to LGBTQ students in difficult personal circumstances or in hostile school environments, and to advocate for LGBTQ students,” (Fetner, T...
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...What would your life be like if your community didn’t accept you? LGBTQ individuals get judged all the time because they’re different. Is it right to get treated differently because you like the same sex or transgender? The answer is no! Just because your sexual orientation is different than others, it doesn’t mean you’re different; in fact it makes you brave for coming out. In today’s society more LGBTQ are coming out and being accepted. Coming out can be a lifelong process, especially for transgender because the person has to take medications to change their appearance. It takes months before the person starts to see changes. Eventually the person will undergo surgery to have a mastectomy or genital removal. LGBTQ stands for lesbians, gays,...
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...Serving as a reoccurring pattern from historical depictions of the LGBTQ community in news media, mainstream publications depicted these individuals and their bodies in stereotypical ways that demeaned them of their accomplishments, worth, and existence within society. The danger of stereotyping certain individuals is that stereotypes are deceptive and this leads to a whole host of innacurate connotations, while invoking a sense of otherness towards the stereotyped when deciding when one does not belong, as defined by Richard Dyer (298). The media frequently published stories that claimed to feature actual scientific, psychological, and technological studies that backed up claims of homosexuality as an illness, claimed the TIME in a 1963 article,...
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...believe in gay people much less them being parents.The LGBTQ community is for people who can be themselves and not get judged just because of the sex they like. All around the world many homosexuals are being mistreated and killed. Homosexuality has been around for many years therefore others think what their doing is wrong. It’s not fair for only one sexuality to be seen as “great” or “holy” and the other is “nasty”. Just because your gay you don’t need to fight for the rights to love your child. Now it’s time to stand up and get them the equal right they deserve. People think that if...
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...The LGBTQ movement still exists today because absolute equality has not been achieved. Modern continuations of the movement empower individuals through clicktivism. Clicktivism allows individuals to participate in protests without physically being present. Clicktivism can be achieved by using social media to follow the movement, posting pictures/videos, and liking posts that support the movement. In fact, Justin Trudeau even made a formal apology to LGBTQ community for government persecution. This apology does not repair the past but it acknowledges and helps people understand the injustice that the LGBTQ community faced. Karl Marx would state that change can only occur once society is able to recognize the concealment of dominant class interests. Therefore, the power of the law marginalized the LGBTQ community, but it was also used as a mechanism to achieve...
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...In the last few decades a spotlight put on the LGBTQ+ community around topics like the right to same sex marriage, that was finally passed in all states that occurred in 2016. This new laws has brought positive and negative perspectives to this community. The overall objective of this study is to focus in on the LGBTQ+ community that is on a college campus, this will be achieved by attending programs that are put together by the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center that is located at the University of Northern Colorado. This study will show the LGBTQ+ college lifestyle, by looking one perspective and what kind of deep connections and bonds that are created during average day occurrences. During this study The overall question that will...
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...representation of the LGBTQ+ community. However, what many often fail to acknowledge is how they are being represented. Despite the growing acceptance and portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters in television and film, the main depictions we see are still stereotypes, negative images, and comic reliefs; all there for entertainment and/or to gain credit for diversity. Why is it that today, in the age of second generation human rights activists, the majority of people still seem to voluntarily swallow these stereotypes of the LGBTQ+ community? Hollywood has during later years been criticized by its lack of diversity, and focus on white...
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