• Russia: Stop Draconian Homophobic Bill
    Press release
    Feb 8, 2012
    The St. Petersburg legislative assembly should halt consideration of a discriminatory bill that would deny freedom of expression to the local lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
  • US: 9th Circuit Decision a Victory for Rights
    Press release
    Feb 7, 2012
    The February 7 decision by a federal appeals court to declare unconstitutional California’s Proposition 8, a successful ballot measure which banned same-sex marriage in 2008, is an important victory for human rights.
  • Universal Periodic Review of South Africa
    Written statement
    Jan 20, 2012

    South Africa has failed to clarify its position on the 22 recommendations made during the first UPR cycle in 2008 – making the assessment of the implementation problematic.  South Africa should clearly communicate its responses and commitments on all recommendations made during its second UPR cycle. 

  • Kuwait: End Police Abuses Against Transgender Women
    Press release
    Jan 15, 2012
    Kuwaiti police have tortured and sexually abused transgender women using a discriminatory law, passed in 2007, which arbitrarily criminalizes “imitating the opposite sex.” The government of Kuwait should repeal the law, article 198 as amended in 2007, and hold police officers accountable for misconduct.
  • Sweden: Letter to the Prime Minister Regarding Transgender Law
    Letter
    Jan 14, 2012
  • Swedish Government Should Stay out of its Citizens’ Underwear
    Commentary
    Jan 10, 2012
    Swedish citizens would not want their government to mess around in their underwear. You would assume all hell would break loose if the government would tell them: you won’t get a new passport or other identification document unless you have become irreversibly infertile.
  • Cameroon: Letter to the Minister of Justice Regarding Article 354
    Letter
    Dec 22, 2011
  • Malaysia: Revoke Law Banning Same-Sex Sexual Relations
    Press release
    Dec 22, 2011
    The Malaysian government should revoke its colonial-era law criminalizing consensual sexual acts between people of the same sex. The authorities should drop their criminal case alleging consensual “sodomy” against opposition leader and former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is awaiting the verdict in his trial that began in February 2010.
  • United Nations: Landmark Report by High Commissioner for Human Rights on Discriminatory Laws and Practices and Acts of Violence Against Individuals Based on Their Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
    Written statement
    Dec 20, 2011
    On December 15, 2011 the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council documenting discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. The report also shows how international human rights law can be used to end violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
  • Beyond corrective rape
    Commentary
    Dec 12, 2011
    United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a simple but profound message in her United­ Nations speech in Geneva last week. Her message: human rights are indivisible and governments cannot selectively withhold rights.