Building a Movement Without Borders

By Leah Entenmann

Marriage: for so many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) Americans, the recent Supreme Court decision is a monumental breakthrough, a triumph, an affirmation that we are just as worthy and just as human as anyone else. We’ve gone through so much to get here, from threats and discrimination to harassment, violence, and persecution. We’ve heard and internalized outrageous, hateful things said about us. Throughout, we’ve fought hard for our rights and acceptance. Our community and our allies have dedicated our hearts to the cause of marriage equality. Our hard-won right to marry the ones we love will help many of us feel that we truly belong. But still, we’re not done: far too many LGBTI people at home and abroad remain marginalized and are denied our basic human rights. In the grand scheme, we’re just getting started, and the work to come must stretch beyond our borders.

Many challenges persist at home. We still face discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, education, and public spaces. This is especially true for trans, intersex, and gender non-conforming folks, whose needs and challenges are often ignored. We need to prevent and heal from hate-based violence against us and relationship violence between us. We also need to support each other in all ongoing struggles against oppression—we are everywhere, a part of every marginalized group, and we need to have each other’s backs.

While our work at home is not over, supporting each other also means showing up for our LGBTI family beyond our borders. LGBTI people elsewhere face many of the same struggles as us, but some of their challenges are more serious than most of us here have had to face. These problems are wide ranging, but there are some common, pressing needs in worldwide struggles for LGBTI human rights.

Freedom from Violence

There are places around the world where LGBTI people can’t dress as themselves or hold their sweetheart’s hand without risking violence. In many societies, heterosexual marriage is expected of just about everyone. In others, forced marriage is common practice. LGBTI women especially face “corrective” rape and honor killings. This kind of oppression forms a subcategory of gender violence. Our movement must work with women’s movements to end all forms of violent oppression and ensure the basic safety and security of LGBTI people everywhere.

Freedom of Expression, Assembly, and Association

In violation of basic universal human rights, many countries restrict the free speech, expression, and rights to assembly and association of LGBTI people. “Propaganda” laws from Russia to Nigeria mean fines or imprisonment for LGBTI and allied activists. Too many of our LGBTI family are denied their self-expression, unable to speak out against oppression, to feel comfortable in their own skin and clothing, or even to be LGBTI without fear or shame.

Transgender and Intersex Rights

Across the world, intersex, transgender, and gender non-conforming people face violence and oppression. They and their allies are fighting for their rights to self-identification, self-expression, full healthcare access, and to be treated with dignity. Intersex people especially are fighting forced and coerced surgery. Trans folks face unthinkable rates of violence, and due to employment discrimination all too many must turn to risky underground economies to get by.

Sexual Rights and Health

For decades, LGBTI people have fought for international recognition of everyone’s right to sexuality and sexual autonomy, including freedom from sexual violence. Collectively, we live at a higher risk of many negative health outcomes, including HIV and STIs. We need comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare and information so that we can take care of ourselves and each other.

Our extended, global LGBTI family faces daunting challenges, and it can be difficult to determine how and where to begin. Profound cultural, religious, and societal differences mean that LGBTI rights goals vary from place to place, so we Americans don’t always know the best way to help. Initiatives from the U.S., while well-meaning, can even spark backlash against the very people they are meant to support.

Fortunately, there are LGBTI activists fighting for rights and freedom in virtually every country, and no one knows their needs and contexts like they do. The Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination in Guyana has created communications, education, and advocacy tools to end criminalization of and discrimination against LGBTI Guyanese. The Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum successfully overturned Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2014. These organizers and others around the world have a better sense of how Americans can help them without putting them in danger or undoing the progress they have made.

Astraea, the only philanthropic organization working exclusively to advance LGBTQI human rights around the globe, describes local-level activists as “brave and brilliant.” By providing country-specific information, profiles of ground-level LGBTI organizations, and stories of individual struggles and activism, Alturi is here to make it easier for Americans to connect with and provide direct support to the brave and brilliant advocates creating needed change beyond our borders.

We’ve fought a long battle, but we can’t give up the fight now. Side by side with our global LGBTI family, we can build a movement without borders and create a world where all of us can be ourselves without fear or shame.

July 31, 2015

Photo credit: Воскресенский Пётр