More Analysis Of Zombie Anti-Gay Sodomy Laws

Sodomy laws, or state statutes which criminalized sexual contact between people of the same sex were some of the most pernicious aspects of anti-LGBT discriminatory practices that negatively impacted the civil rights of LGBT Americans.

The 2003 Supreme Court decision Lawrence v Texas basically ended the era of legal gay apartheid but there are 18 states which, today, 8 years later, still have sodomy laws on their books.

MadProfessah noted that Mother Jones discussed this curiosity last April and now Equality Matters and other LGBT media outlets are starting to take notice.

Update on Brandon McInerney Gay Hate Crime Trial

Gay Teen Murder Defendant's Brother Talks About Testimony: MyFoxLA.com

The murder trial of Brandon McInerney is continuing in Chatsworth and there have been some explosive testimony since last we checked in. 14-year-old McInerney, now 17, fatally shot his 15-year-old classmate Lawrence (Leticia) King twice in the head on February 12, 2008 when both boys attended E.O. Green Junior High School in Ventura County, California. McInerney is being tried as an adult (which I do not agree with) and is being charged with first-degree murder in a trial that began July 5, 2011.

The latest revelations are that Brandon McInerney was apparently repeatedly physically and sexually abused by his father.

Brandon McInerney was molested by a relative as a boy, a family secret that his older half brother didn't learn until two weeks after McInerney shot a gay classmate to death in February 2008, the half brother told jurors in a Chatsworth courtroom Wednesday.

James Bing testified that McInerney’s father cried hysterically as he revealed the molestation that occurred when Brandon was about 9 years old.

The older McInerney was upset because the family had dealt with the problem internally, sending the relative away for years, instead of reporting it to police and getting Brandon help, Bing told the courtroom.

McInerney’s father, who is now dead, believed the memory of the molestation was what caused his son to react so violently when Larry King began dressing like a girl and flirting with McInerney at their Oxnard junior high school, Bing said.

[...]

When McInerney’s father died in 2009, coroner's officials found alcohol and drugs in his system. Bing said his stepfather was frequently high on drugs and was sadistic.

He once put soap into a sock and beat the boys with it for an offense that later turned out to have been committed by someone else, Bing testified.

Billy McInerney poured Tabasco sauce down's the boys' throats when they were sleeping and would pull down their pants in front of their friends, disparaging the size of their genitals, Bing said.

"He was a mean, nasty person,'' Bing said.

How convenient that the alleged sexual molestation was never reported to anyone else outside the family so it will be different to corroborate. James Bing is Brandon McInerney's half-brother (same father different mother) and is the person speaking in the video given at the top of this post. If I were a juror I would take the testimony of a family member of the accused with more than a grain of salt.

What would you b willing to tell the court if a member of your extended family was accused of a crime for which they faced 53 years to life in prison if found guilty?

Rash Of Violent Anti-Gay Hate Crimes In Long Beach

Long Beach has been the location of at least three attacks on gay men in the last two weeks.  Long Beach is the third largest city in California and is well-known for a prominent LGBT community. They have an openly gay, Latino city councilman named Robert Garcia who is quoted saying that "These incidents have no place in our city."

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Avila, who was walking ahead of the group, passed a man arguing with a woman on the sidewalk. The man stopped long enough to use a slur against Avila as he passed, he said.
[...]
The man ran away, but Avila and another friend chased him several blocks until police arrived, he said.

The suspect, Jorge Jhovanoy Ibarrias, 21, was arrested and charged with felony battery in addition to a hate crime. He has pleaded not guilty, authorities said.

Three days later, near East 4th Street and Orange Avenue, another man was beaten and called slurs. That case is being investigated as a battery and a possible hate incident, though not a hate crime, Fernandez said. The difference, he said, is that police do not believe that hatred specifically against gays was the initial motivation.

Four days after the second attack, on Sundayabout 1:30 a.m., several men walking on Broadway, two blocks from the site of the initial incident, were approached by another group that used slurs against them, police said. A fight broke out before the groups separated. But the group that made the insults returned shortly afterward with several other people and assaulted three of the men who had been walking down the street, police said.

Hat/tip to Rod 2.0 who posted the video of a local ABC affiliate coverage of the story shown above.

CDC Releases New Data on HIV Infections 2006-2009

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released their latest analysis of HIV infections from 2006-2009 today. The full report (pdf) is available online. This is the first time the CDC has been able to estimate HIV infections from actual HIV test data, thanks to the passage of HIV names reporting legislation which has been enacted by several states (including California) in recent years. 2009 is the most recent year for which data is available so far.

A key excerpt from the press release:

According to the new estimates, there were 48,600 new HIV infections in the United States in 2006, 56,000 in 2007, 47,800 in 2008 and 48,100 in 2009.  The multi-year incidence estimates allow for a reliable examination of trends over time.  They reveal no statistically significant change in HIV incidence overall from 2006 to 2009, with an average of 50,000 for the four-year period.  In 2009, the largest number of new infections was among white MSM (11,400), followed closely by black MSM (10,800).  Hispanic MSM (6,000) and black women (5,400) were also heavily affected.   

“While we’re encouraged that prevention efforts have helped avoid overall increases in HIV infections in the United States, and have significantly reduced new infections from the peak in the mid-1980s, we have plateaued at an unacceptably high level,” said Kevin Fenton, M.D., director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention.  “Without intensified HIV prevention efforts, we are likely to face an era of rising infection rates and higher health care costs for a preventable condition that already affects more than one million people in this country.”

Some of the key take-aways from the report are:

• Overall HIV incidence in the U.S. has been relatively stable, with approximately 50,000 annual new infections

• New infections among young men who have sex with men (MSM) increased 34% between 2006 and 1009

• Young, black MSM (aged 13-29) is the only subpopulation in the U.S. to experience a statistically significant increase from 2006 through 2009
• New HIV infections increased 48% – from 4,400 in 2006 to 6,500 in 2009

• The new data confirm that HIV continues to disproportionately affect MSM of all races/ethnicities
• MSM represent 2% of the total U.S. population, but accounted for 61% all new HIV infections in 2009
• Among MSM in 2009, white MSM represented the greatest number of new HIV infections (11,400), followed closely by black MSM (10,800) and Hispanic MSM (6,000)
  

Read that line again: "MSM represent 2% of the total U.S. population, but accounted for 61% all new HIV infections in 2009." People who says HIV/AIDS is not a "gay" issue don't know what the heck they are talking about!

Wow! New Anti-Homophobia PSA Airing in Jamaica

As many of you must know, the island of Jamaica has a (well-deserved) reputation as "the most homophobic place on Earth" despite being a tropical paradise and tourist destination. There have been several reports of extra-judicial killings and beatings of individuals believed to be LGBT.

Anyway, a coalition of groups has organized an anti-homophobia public education campaign which includes a PSA (public service announcement) called "Unconditional Love." You can watch it here. This is great news, because it demonstrates that there is an organized effort to combat the unrelenting homophobia which has been festering in most social circles of Jamaica.

Hat/tip to Rod 2.0

WATCH: MA Congressional Delegation "It Gets Better"

Note, it's almost the entire congressional delegation of Massachusetts. Missing is U.S. Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) who surprisingly won a special election in January 2010, thus giving the Republicans a filibuster-sustaining 41 votes in the United States Senate.

To date, not a single Republican elected official has made an It Gets Better video. Instead, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has started verbally attacking Dan Savage, who has made his feelings about Republicans known. Scott Brown explains his absence from the MA congressional delegation IGB video:

"Senator Brown believes all people regardless of sexual orientation should be treated with dignity and respect. He has been a leader in fighting for anti-bullying legislation at the state and federal level. His main focus is creating jobs and getting the economy moving again. In this case, the individual behind the video has made vile and sexually crude comments about Senator Brown. It's reprehensible for Senator Brown's opponents to associate with this person in order to score cheap political points." -- Eric Fehrnstrom, political adviser.

I'd like to hear from the Log Cabin Republicans an explanation for why not a single Republican elected official can not seem to appear in a video whose intention is to help students who are being bullied (probably because they are LGBT or are perceived to be LGBT) survive the experience and reduce teen suicide.

RI Gov Blasts (But Signs) Discriminatory Civil Unions Bill

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chaffee

Usually when a governor signs a civil union bill into law the LGBT community celebrates, but not this time. Rhode Island Independent Governor Lincoln Chaffee signed a civil unions bill into law over objections from a coalition of LGBT groups and opposition from religious heterosexual supremacists.

The debate is over the Corvese Amendment, which looks like:

15-3.1-5. Conscience and religious organizations protected. – (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, no religious or denominational organization, no organization operated for charitable or educational purpose which is supervised or controlled by or in connection with a religious organization, and no individual employed by any of the foregoing organizations, while acting in the scope of that employment, shall be required:

(1) To provide services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges for a purpose related to the solemnization, certification, or celebration of any civil union; or

(2) To solemnize or certify any civil union; or

(3) To treat as valid any civil union; if such providing, solemnizing, certifying, or treating as valid would cause such  organizations or individuals to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.

(b) No organization or individual as described in subsection (a) above who fails or refuses to provide, solemnize, certify, or treat as valid, as described in subdivision (a)(1), (a)(2) or (a)(3) above, persons in a civil union, shall be subject to a fine, penalty, or other cause of action for such failure or refusal.

This is an incredibly broad religious exemption. Basically, it allows Catholic hospitals to deny life-saving medical decisions by one member of a civil union. In fact it allows any "religious" organization (or individual employee of such an organization) to completely ignore a civil union.

When Governor Chaffee signed the bill into law, according to the Middleton Patch he said:

That exemption, "gives these institutions and their employees the choice of refusing to recognize civil unions. As a result, a party to a civil union could be denied the right to make medical decisions for his or her partner, denied access to health insurance benefits, denied property rights in adjoining burial plots or denied family memberships at religiously-affiliated community centers. If religiously-affiliated hospitals, cemeteries, schools and community centers refuse to treat civil unions as valid, it would significantly harm civil union partners by failing to protect their medical, physical and commercial interests at critical moments in their lives," Chafee wrote. "This extraordinary exemption eviscerates the important rights that enacting a civil union law was meant to guarantee for same sex couples in the first place." 

"I am signing this bill because I believe that same sex couples should have the same legal rights, benefits, protections and responsibilities as heterosexual couples. Although this measure is a step forward, it fails to fully achieve those goals in its present form," Chafee wrote.

What's so bizarre about this fight is that Rhode Island already recognizes same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions. So, if one Rhode Island couple gets married in New York and another Rhode Island couple gets civilly united in Rhode Island, it is the locally wed couple that can be legally discriminated against under this law, while the externally married couple can NOT be discriminated against in the same fashion.

Why would any same-sex couple apply for a Rhode Island civil union when they can apply for a legal marriage license in New York (which has no residency requirement) starting TODAY?

Celebrity Friday: 13 U.S. Senators Say "It Gets Better"

13 sitting United States Senators have collaborated to put together an "It Gets Better" video for Dan Savage's pioneering anti-bullying project.

They are:

Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)

Heterosexual Supremacists Appeal Judge Ware Ruling

Good grief! The heterosexual supremacists who believe that they are "defending marriage" by supporting Proposition 8 in federal court have appealed Federal District Court Judge James Ware's decision denying their motion to vacate Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling which struck down the measure.

The San Francisco Examiner says:

Attorneys for Prop. 8 filed their appeal this afternoon before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the same court that is hearing an appeal of Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling last August that the law unconstitutionally violated the civil rights of gays and lesbians.

Earlier this year, Prop. 8 sponsors had asked Ware, Walker’s replacement as chief justice, to throw out Walker’s ruling because of an interview he did with reporters in April, after his retirement, during which he discussed his long-term relationship with a gay man. They argued that Walker should have disclosed the relationship and whether he intended to marry before last year’s trial.

Attorneys for the same-sex couples who sued over Prop. 8 argued at the time that the motion was “frivolous” and “offensive.”

Ware denied the motion, saying there was no federal precedent for disqualifying a judge solely because he shares a characteristic, such as sexual orientation, with a litigant.

It should be interesting to see which case they lose first, the Perry v Schwarzenegger lawsuit (the appeal of Judge Ware's ruling) or the Perry v Brown lawsuit (the appeal of Judge Walker's ruling). I expect they will lose them both.

Buju Banton Sentenced To 10 Years

Buju Banton, the notoriously homophobic, Grammy-winning Jamaican reggae star, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in the United States  following his conviction earlier this year on federal drug charges.

The Jamaican Gleaner reports: 

Jamaican reggae superstar, Buju Banton, 37, has been sentenced to 10 years, followed by five years of probation, in the Florida District Court in the United States this morning.

US District Judge, James Moody imposed the sentence when Buju, whose real name is Mark Myrie, appeared in a Tampa Federal Courtroom this morning.

MadProfessah has participated in public protests against appearances by Banton, due to his song "Boom Bye Bye" which had horrendously homophobic lyrics. Of course, one never likes to see anyone go to jail but Banton has been unrepentant in his disdain for the LGBT community. Karma is a *****!

French National Assembly Rejects Marriage Equality 293-222

Bizarre news from France where the National Assembly has rejected a bill to enact marriage equality by a vote of 293-222. President Nicholas Sarkozy's party, the UMP which controls the body, opposed the measure proposed by the Socialists.

From Agence France Press:

"We are against homophobia but we do not want to alter the image and function of marriage in the collective subconscious," said UMP lawmaker Michel Diefenbacher.

Opposition Socialist party lawmaker Patrick Bloche had called the bill a measure to end a form of discrimination and "pass to a new stage in equality of rights."

Several of France's fellow European Union member states, including Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands, have legalised homosexual marriage.

Wow. "The collective subconscious" image and function of marriage is what heterosexual supremacists are using to defend their discriminatory position. Doesn't that sound eerily like a defense of segregation? After all, that was about the collective subconscious of what it means to be "white" (and "American") in this country.

Federal Judge Denies Motion To Vacate Prop 8 Ruling

In an unsurprising move, Federal Judge James Ware has summarily dismissed the motion to vacate last year's ruling striking down Proposition 8 filed by the heterosexual supremacist supporters of the 2008 ballot measure which ended marriage equality in California.

You can read the full text of the Motion to Vacate here.
Denial of Motion to Vacate 06-14-2011

Eddie Long's Wife Reportedly Leaves Him

"Bishop" Eddie Long, the Atlanta-area pastor who settled a combined sexual misconduct civil lawsuit for a reported $15 million last month now appears to have trouble at home. Long's second wife, Vanessa Griffin Long, has now reportedly moved out of the couple's $1.5 million home.

Black Medias Scoop delivers the deets:

Let’s catch you up on the scoop! After being fired by Ford for financial irregularities, Eddie Long moved to Atlanta to study theology and became the pastor of a small Jonesboro, GA church. In 1987 he became the pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, which at the time had around 300 members. Under Long, membership grew to 25,000.


About a year ago, on September 21 and 22, 2010, Maurice Robinson, Anthony Flagg, and Jamal Parris filed separate lawsuits in DeKalb County Superior Court alleging that Long used his pastoral influence to coerce them into a sexual relationship with him.


On September 24, Spencer LeGrande, a member of a New Birth satellite church in Charlotte, North Carolina, filed a similar suit, making him the fourth man to file a lawsuit claiming sexual misconduct by Long. The plaintiffs state that Long placed the men on the church’s payroll, bought them cars and other gifts, and took them separately on trips to destinations such as Kenya, South Africa, Turks and Caicos Islands, Trinidad, Honduras, New Zealand, and New York City.


[...]


Church members quickly informed BMS of a $15 million dollar settlement mostly paid via church insurance. Long only offered a private apology to the young men despite what they really wanted, a public apology and money. Church members were upset and many are leaving the church they once called home.


[...]


Long married Vanessa Griffin in 1990. She worked on the Board of Directors for the Faith Academy. She also headed many ministries, mostly those dealing with women’s issues. They have 3 children together Edward, Jared, and Taylor.


BMS has also learned that she allegedly took one of the children with her to stay at an undisclosed family members home! Our source says Vanessa allegedly agreed to stick by Long until the sex scandal drama was over and then she’d leave. This is Long’s second go around at the chapel of love. He married Dabara S. Houston in 1981 and they have one son together Eric Long.

Wow! Truth can be stranger than fiction. This summary reads like a book by Eric Jerome Dickey or E. Lynn Harris. HOT MESS!

POLL: Should Homosexuality Be Accepted By Society?

I had previously blogged about the results of the latest poll from the PEW RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE PEOPLE & THE PRESS which discussed how "political typology" influences views on marriage equality. My husband pointed out that the poll also asked more general questions about societal acceptance of homosexuality.

Overall, 58% agree homosexuality should be accepted compared to 33% who believe it should be discouraged. What's interesting are how the views change depending on different attributes. The good news is that the younger you are, the more you believe homosexuality should be accepted, from a high of 69% if you're between 18-29, to a low of 47% if you're over 65.

There are only two groups for which discouraging homosexuality is a majority position: Republicans (53%, especially conservative Republicans at 58%) and White evangelical Protestants (63%). But of course it just so happens that the majority of the U.S. House of Representatives Republican majority falls into one or all of those categories. Additionally, every leading Republican presidential contender is either a conservative or a White Protestant, except for Mitt Romney and John Huntsman, who are Mormons, not exactly more accepting of homosexuality than Protestants.

WATCH: Family Research Council Exposed As Hate Group (With Their Own Words)

GRENADA: Man, 41, Charged Under Sodomy Law

Since I was born on the island of Grenada in the Eastern Caribbean I'm always attentive when the island-nation appears in the news. According to the AP, a 41-year-old man has been arrested and charged with sodomy for having consensual sex with a 17-year-old man.

The age of sexual consent in Grenada is 16 but while the sex in question was consensual, local law prohibits sodomy under the charge of "unnatural connection."

Grenada is one of several Caribbean nations that has laws banning sex between men. The penalty in most islands, including Grenada, is up to 10 years in prison, although Barbados and Guyana have life imprisonment, according to a 2010 United Nations report.

Many islands remain socially conservative, with Jamaica considered one of the most hostile islands toward homosexuals. A gay right activist was killed there last year, and three gay men were attacked and beaten in St. Lucia in March. Gay cruises to the region also continue to draw protesters.

In Grenada, gays are discriminated against and find it hard to find employment and housing, said Nigel Mathlin, president of GrenCHAP, a local nonprofit organization that represents marginalized groups.

"The government, they are very much aware of the changes that need to be made, of bringing our laws into line with international human rights principles," Mathlin said.

I'll be following this case relatively closely. I really don't see how the Caribbean nations of Barbados, Trinidad, Grenada and Jamaica can expect to have a vibrant tourism industry while still maintaining anti-gay sodomy laws and an unwelcoming, discriminatory atmosphere.

It's good to see that there is some organized resistance and challenge to explicit homophobia on the island of Grenada in the form of GrenCHAP and Nigel Mathlin.

Gallup Shows Majority Support For Marriage Equality 53-45

This is big news! The Gallup Organization, the most respected polling outfit in the United States, has announced that a majority of Americans support the right of same-sex couples to be married with the same rights and responsibilities as "traditional marriages."

This year's nine-point increase in support for same-sex marriage is the largest year-to-year shift yet measured over this time period. Two-thirds of Americans were opposed to legalized same-sex marriage in 1996, with 27% in favor. By 2004, support had risen to 42% and, despite some fluctuations from year to year, stayed at roughly that level through last year.

Democrats' and Independents' Greater Acceptance Shifts the Balance

Democrats' and independents' support for legalized same-sex marriage increased this year by 13 and 10 points, respectively. Republicans' views on the issue did not change from last year. Clear majorities of both Democrats and independents now support gay marriage, 69% and 59% respectively, contrasted with 28% support among Republicans.

Majorities of moderates and liberals support gay marriage, as they did last year, contrasted with 28% of conservatives.

As Daily Kos put it, the Party that has the biggest problem with reality (Republicans) registered absolutely no change in opinion on marriage equality in the last year.

This is actually not surprising. Researchers at Harvard about implicit versus explicit bias have found that Republicans are the only group whose self-reported (explicit) bias against LGBT people is actually larger than their unconscious (implicit) bias. In other words, being homophobic or being publicly identified as homophobic actually reinforces Republicans view of their self-identity.  Thus they are more likely to publicly identify themselves with the anti-gay policy position than they truly believe.

What is so interesting about this result is that it flips the narrative on its head about whether marriage equality is "controversial" or a minority view point. Marriage equality support is a majority position. The next question is whether elected representatives will reflect this reality in the near future.

TN Senate Passes Flagrantly Unconstitutional Anti-Gay Bill

The Tennessee State Senate passed SB049, a bill to prohibit classroom discussions of any other sexual orientation than heterosexuality in public elementary or middle schools, by a vote of 19-11 on Thursday. Popularly known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill and sponsored by the 42-year-old, unmarried "longtime bachelor" Republican State Senator Stacey Campfield, the legislation has caused a furor in LGBT circles around the blogosphere.

The bill has no chance in becoming law this year, because the House companion bill has been withdrawn. Even if it does become law, any court in the country would strike it down as flagrantly unconstitutional for violating the First Amendment. Government does not get to pick and choose between the content of speech that it prohibits.

However there is a larger threat to the rights of LGBT citizens in  Tennessee because earlier this month the State Senate passed legislation to overturn Nashville's civil rights ordinance and prevent any future local civil rights ordinances which expand coverage beyond state law.

HIV Treatment *IS* HIV Prevention

There's an interesting twist to the news that HIV+ people on anti-retroviral medication have surprisingly low chances of passing the virus on to their sexual partners in this weekend's New York Times column by Charles Blow.

Blow makes the point that the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) has been a victim of both state and federal budget cutting and points out the long-term fiscal irresponsibility of such actions.

According to data from the ADAP Advocacy Association: as of last week, the number of people on ADAP waiting lists had risen to 7,873; between April 2009 and April 2011, 14 states reduced the number and types of drugs they would pay for. A number of states have stiffened financial eligibility requirements, capped enrollment or removed some people already enrolled. Other states are considering doing so.


This is particularly problematic since the National ADAP Monitoring Project’s annual report, released in March, showed that those most dependent on the program are some of society’s most vulnerable. About a third of all people diagnosed with AIDS are enrolled in ADAPs, three-quarters of them had incomes of less than 200 percent of the national poverty level, 61 percent were uninsured, and 55 percent were black or Hispanic.


But as the recession put more patients in need, federal and state aid didn’t keep track. From 2007 to 2010, the number of people using ADAPs jumped by a third, but federal and state funds specifically appropriated for it grew by just 3 percent and 18 percent, respectively.


Not only is it morally reprehensible to restrict or deny life-saving drugs to those who need them (talk about death panels), it is a colossal miscalculation of public health policy, not to mention fiscally irresponsible.


The new findings should help change a paradigm that’s badly in need of changing. Treatment benefits the healthy as well as the sick. It not only prolongs and improves the lives of those who are H.I.V.-positive, but also is a prophylactic for those who aren’t. Everyone wins.


It’s time to expand ADAPs, not diminish them.

It's just amazing how we spend health care dollars in this country. It simply is not rational to be cutting funds for  prevention of any disease, especially when prevention is always cheaper than treatment. In the case of HIV, treatment can also improve prevention of future infections so it should be a no-brainer to increase, not decrease such expenditures. Unless you live in Mississippi, of course.

Today is International Day Against Homophobia

The International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) is May 17. It is an international campaign designed to highlight the effects of homophobia and transphobia. May 17th was picked because it was the day that the World Health Organisation officially declassified homosexuality as a disease. Today is also the seventh anniversary of the day that same-sex couples could get legally married for the first time in the United States, when Goodridge went in effect in Massachusetts.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement in support of IDAHO:

In every part of the world, men and women are persecuted and attacked because of who they are or whom they love. Homophobia, transphobia and the brutal hostility associated with them are often rooted in a lack of understanding of what it actually means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). So to combat this terrible scourge and break the cycle of fear and violence, we must work together to improve education and support those who stand up against laws that criminalize love and promote hate. As we mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia this May 17, let us resolve to redouble our efforts. 

On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I am proud to reaffirm our support for LGBT communities at home and abroad, and to call for an end to discrimination and mistreatment of LGBT persons wherever it occurs. Whether by supporting LGBT advocates marching in Belgrade, leading the effort at the United Nations to affirm the human rights of LGBT persons, or condemning a vile law under consideration in Uganda, we are committed to our friends and allies in every region of the world who are fighting for equality and justice. These are not Western concepts; these are universal human rights. 

Despite these gains and hard work, there is more to do to turn the tide of inequality and discrimination against the LGBT community. If you are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, know that the United States stands with you and we are unwavering in our commitment to ending this cycle of hate.

Take a moment today to think about doing something to reduce prejudice against the LGBT community around the world.