Publications

'Gay and lesbian rights are human rights'

Posted on 17/12/2009

Gays and lesbians throughout the world demand equal rights and treatment. A recently published book, Urgency Required, describes their struggle for equality.

In the Dutch edition published in 2008, the emphasis was on Africa. The English version is more comprehensive, and covers Latin America and Asia as well. The book shows how the rights of gays, lesbians and transgender persons are dealt with throughout the world. 'Gay and lesbian rights are human rights', says co-editor Ireen Dubel of Hivos. 'And this is the subtitle of the book. Unfortunately there are many countries that do not acknowledge that the universal human rights apply to gays and lesbians as well.'

Corrective rape

Dubel edited Urgency Required together with André Hielkema of the Dutch Humanist Alliance. They show that, in many countries, it is still dangerous to be open about your sexual orientation. 'In a lot of places this evokes really gruesome reactions', says Dubel. 'Such as “corrective rape”. Rape is used to get women back “on the heterosexual path”. It is a punishment: men perform an act towards women who deviate from the heterosexual norm.'

Gay-tolerance

Organisation, empowerment and emancipation are necessary to outlaw such practices, says Dubel. Urgency Required contains a number of strategies for this. 'Revoking legislation that criminalises homosexuality is an important step', says Dubel. 'But in itself this is not enough. Social acceptance is essential – and that is much harder to achieve. Difficult does not mean impossible’, says the Hivos staff member. She would like to see prominent people express their tolerance of homosexuality. 'Then you can observe that the wider community becomes more open towards homosexuality. And this will make it easier for individuals to come out.'

Urgency Required can be ordered via info@hivos.nl for 15 €, excluding costs of postage. The book can also be downloaded from www.hivos.net/urgencyrequired

Written by schrijf-schrijf

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