Originally published on the CGS blog on November 14, 2013.
Several distinct, though often interrelated, human rights issues have been in the news in recent weeks: Gender and sexuality. Two weeks ago, Germany became the first country in Europe to allow parents to leave the sex of their babies blank on their birth certificates. According to Deutsche Welle, this move aims to “remove pressure on parents of children who have characteristics of both sexes to quickly decide on controversial sex-assignment surgery for their newborns.” Around 1 in 2000 people are “intersex,” meaning they are born with both male and female physical characteristics. As a result, these individuals are often given sex-assignment surgery as infants before a sexual identity can form.
Five other countries already recognize a “third sex” is various legal and administrative capacities. Bangladesh and New Zealand allow third sex identification on passports, India allows such identification on electoral rolls, and Nepal’s census has had a third sex category since 2007. Australia also allows third sex identification on passports and has gone a step further than other countries and passed anti-discrimination legislation to make “intersex status” protected under the law. In both the Australian and German cases, rights advocates worry that policies do not go far enough to protect the rights of intersex individuals.
Last week, Illinois’ legislature voted to approve same-sex marriage and Governor Pat Quinn has pledged to sign the legislation into law. Illinois joins 14 other U.S. states that have legalized same-sex marriage along with 15 countries, most recently France, around the world. According to Amnesty International, “[a]lthough the Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not explicitly mention sexual orientation or gender identity, evolving conceptions of international human rights law include a broad interpretation to include the rights and the protection of the rights of LGBT people around the world.” Argentina is emerging as a leader in protecting and enhancing LGBTQ rights, legalizing same sex marriage in 2010 and passing the Law of Gender Equality that guarantees the rights of transgender individuals.
Undeniably we are living in a time of great changes when it comes to how we relate to issues of gender and sexuality. It appears that in many places, individuals, communities, and policy makers are coming to the realization that human rights are not and cannot be selective. More and more people are seeing the need and the opportunity to push for the recognition of the human rights of their lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, queer, and intersex friends, family members, neighbors, and colleagues.
However, recent events in Russia and anti-gay policies in countries such as Cameroon and Uganda have shown that by no means are the expansion of human rights and dignities inevitable. There is, unfortunately, always a chance that backsliding will occur. But, that does not mean the goal of universal human rights cannot be achieved. It merely serves as motivation to work even harder to create the types of societies that will not only allow everyone of their members to live their lives freely and openly without fear of discrimination, but encourage it.
Globalsolutions.org and its supporters believe that “Durable solutions to global problems are best achieved through fair, inclusive, and lawful processes in which all parties are accountable.” The recent legislative changes in countries like Germany, France, and individual U.S. states represent great steps toward such solutions for LGBTQ members of their societies. It is also important for these fair, inclusive, and lawful processes to come about in an environment of democratic accountability. Citizens of each country have the responsibility to ensure that the actions of their respective governments reflect their values. The values in this case are universal human rights for all members of society regardless of gender or sexual orientation and these governments are making moves in the right direction.
