First published in Bay Windows on March 23, 2006.
Sometimes you just need to ask the right person. On April 9, 1991, three Washington activists met with Tom Williams, then director of the Country Human Rights Reports Team at State Department headquarters in Washington's Foggy Bottom. Michael Petrelis of ACT UP, Margaret Cantrell of Gay and Lesbian Watch, and Barrett Brick of the World Congress of Gay and Lesbian Jewish Organizations wanted State to include anti-gay incidents in its annual report to Congress on human rights abuses around the world.
They had done their homework, and provided Williams with evidence of incidents that should have been in the 1990 report. Williams was persuaded, and the report has included gay-related incidents ever since.
Petrelis, now a blogger based in San Francisco, was still on the case when State released its 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on March 8. Not only has he stayed in touch with State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor as well as the desk officers for individual countries, he worked with British activist Peter Tatchell last year to declare December 4-10 “Report Antigay Rights Abuses to U.S. State Dept. Week.”
The success of Petrelis and his international network of collaborators is evident in the report. It includes numerous anti-gay incidents, some familiar from gay press reports:
- In Poland, gay activists braved violent counter-demonstrators to march in Warsaw and Poznan despite being denied permits; they subsequently won a Warsaw court ruling.
- In Zimbabwe, thugs again harassed Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe into withdrawing from an international book fair.
- In Jamaica, an AIDS activist was shot to death, and the gay rights group J-FLAG reported abuses “including police harassment, arbitrary detention, mob attacks, stabbings....”
- Under Shari'a law in many Muslim countries, homosexuality was punished by death. In Iran, a number of men, including two teenagers, were executed apparently for homosexuality though charged with other crimes.
There were also some positive developments:
- In China, “Gay men and lesbians stated that official tolerance had improved in recent years.”
- In lowland areas of Laos, “there was wide and growing tolerance of homosexual practice, although societal discrimination persisted.”
- In the Czech Republic, “the lower house of parliament passed a law that recognizes the legal validity of gay civil partnerships.”
- In Brazil, a federal court ruling granted partner benefits to same-sex couples.
Paula Ettelbrick, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), praised the report:
State Department officials who have worked to include documentation of human rights violations against LGBT people are to be commended, as are the many global activists who brought these violations to light.
In contrast, the Human Rights Campaign used the report's release mainly as an excuse to bash the U.S. government for its recent vote against consultative status for gay organizations at the United Nations. HRC President Joe Solmonese said:
The State Department report is enlightening but it won't be effective if the U.S. government keeps siding with abusers like Iran in supporting silencing human rights watchers.
This is patently false, since the reports are used by lawyers for asylum seekers to bolster their clients' cases.
Unfortunately, some people are so fixated on their opposition to George W. Bush that they are reluctant to give credit to anyone in the federal government who might be doing something worthwhile. Last year, when Petrelis praised the 2004 report, some gays took great offense that he would say anything nice about the Bush Administration.
But the annual human rights report has value regardless of one's views of Bush. The plight of gay people in so many countries is far too dire to subordinate it to partisan political concerns. Indeed, the 1991 breakthrough by Petrelis and his colleagues occurred during the presidency of Bush's father.
I spoke with Petrelis the other day, and he wants to ensure that activists in each country are made aware of the relevant contents of the State Department report. My own local activist group is a member of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), and I have pledged to make a project out of contacting as many foreign gay organizations as I can find and forwarding them the information.
When you get desperate e-mail pleas from gay people around the globe, as I occasionally do (and I am not talking about scam letters, which I also receive), it can make you feel pretty small and helpless. When I read those pleas, such as one a few years back from an Iranian in Indonesia who faced deportation back to his native country, where he would likely have been killed, I can do little more than refer the person to IGLHRC and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and offer some words of encouragement.
But small acts can help save lives. My Iranian correspondent found asylum in Canada. Of course, he is a drop in the ocean given the magnitude of the problem worldwide. Many cannot or do not wish to leave their countries. For them, international visibility and support are crucial.
You can play a part in helping oppressed gay people around the world. The Internet is an invaluable tool. Organizations offering online resources include IGLHRC, ILGA, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and UNHCR
As Michael Petrelis, Margaret Cantrell, Barrett Brick and Peter Tatchell have proven, individual voices can and do make a difference.