Anti-imperialist league renews commitment to defend Gay Rights as Human Rights

By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com

During its 4th International Assembly from July 7-9, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) renewed its commitment to defend Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights as human rights.

In the gathering attended by over 300 representatives of people’s organizations from 40 countries from Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, Canada, US, and Europe, the ILPS said that it will oppose the exploitation and oppression against LGBT people and will institute and pursue measures and programs aimed at the elimination of homophobia in all of its forms.

(Photo by Ina Alleco R. Silverio / bulatlat.com)

“The ILPS will actively pursue the LGBT struggle within an anti-imperialist framework for the eventual emancipation of the majority from the tyranny of the few. Only the dismantling of the oppressive structures will provide the conditions for the majority of peoples, including the LGBT community, to live in a just and humane society,” said Tina Shauf, a delegate from the United States and a member of the ILPS’ Commission 18 on the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and queer people against discrimination, intolerance and homophobia.

“We join forces with people who struggle for a free society, where every individual can be productive forces of society and reach for one’s full humanity regardless of one’s sexual orientation and gender identity,” she said.

According to Shauf, besides the common economic and social problems LGBT people encounter in society, they are further burdened by a particular form of oppression called homophobia. In 12 countries in the world, LGBT people have been executed for being gay; in the meantime, in 22 other countries people can be imprisoned for being gay. In many countries, there is public shaming and violent hate crimes that are often ignored or minimized by state institutions. Most countries do not have hate crime legislation that protects LGBT rights.

“Much of the violence and oppression directed toward LGBT communities primarily comes from imperialist forces, who dictate social norms of sexuality and gender, which causes the further marginalization of LGBT people. LGBT people are often recipients of state-sponsored repression, lack civil status, and are increasingly the targets of religious fundamentalist attacks,” she said.

During the ILPS Commission 18’s discussions, participants shared the different forms of discrimination against LGBTs. They said that there is self hate as seen in the rise in the number of LGBT teenagers committing suicide in the US; hate crimes toward transgender people and all LGBT-identified people; and the deliberate lack of resources for gay and lesbian teens in schools.

Another delegate from Canada and a member of Commission 18 Shaun Fryday said that like other sectors represented in the ILPS, “Majority of us come from the exploited and oppressed classes in society, and we come from various cultures, traditions, races and creed, and we make up a minimum of 10 percent of the world’s population. We are in all sectors of society. According to United Nations statistics, there are more LGBT people in the world than there are caucasian people. Some of us are out and many of us are not; in or out, however, LGBTs have rights and these rights should be upheld, respected and defended,” he said.

Alarming statistics of attacks against LGBTs

In 2010, a report in GLSEN exposed the bullying of gay teens. It said that a 2009 survey of 7,261 middle and high school students found that in school nearly nine out of 10 LGBT students experienced harassment the past year and nearly two-thirds felt unsafe because of their sexual orientation. Nearly a third of LGBT students skipped at least one day of school in the past month because of safety concerns.

Only last May 2011, proponents of an anti-gay bill before Uganda’s parliament were forced to remove a punitive clause in the anti-gay bill. The proposal initially called for hanging people who have consensual homosexual sex.

After intense international criticism, the death penalty clause was removed, but the proponents led by lawmaker David Bahati said that they will still push ahead with the measure which criminalizes the promotion of homosexuality.

In Bahati’s proposal, anyone who counseled or abetted people in committing homosexual acts — including landlords who rented houses or rooms to gay people — risks being sent to jail to serve a sentence of seven years. It also makes it compulsory for people to report homosexual acts within 24 hours of becoming aware of them. Those who fail to do so will be penalized.

More than 80 countries still maintain laws that make same-sex relations a criminal offense, exposing gay men and lesbians to the risk of arrest, imprisonment and, in some cases, torture or death. At least seven countries (Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Nigeria) maintain the death penalty for consensual adult same sex practices. There are still anti-sodomy laws in former British and Spanish colonies.

In the Philippines, there have been increasing reports of violent crimes perpetrated against LGBTs. According to Hate Crime Watch, which monitors media reports on rights violations against LGBTs, there have been 54 reported cases of killings against gays and lesbians documented in media since 1996. Gay rights advocates point out , however, that the number of cases that were not reported by the media are higher and currently pegged at 160.

Union ceremonies for eight same-sex couples in the City of Baguio were held on Jun 25 as part of the annual LGBT Pride celebrations of the Baguio Pride Network (BPN), a gay-straight alliance that sponsors the city’s Pride events.

According to reports, the city mayor, leaders of evangelical churches, religious lawyers, some members of the City Council and the Roman Catholic hierarchy condemned the private consensual commitment ceremony as “same-sex marriage.” They called the ceremonies as “illegal, immoral, and abnormal.” National leaders of the Roman Catholic church in Manila and a few other cities branded the ceremonies as “reprehensible” and issued threats of legal actions against the LGBT families.

The leaders and members of the Baguio Pride Network are now reportedly being harassed by anti-gay groups in the city.