Tag Archives: United Nations

Reuters reports: Russia failed Tuesday in a bid to stop the United Nations extending staff benefits to all same-sex couples after a U.N. General Assembly budget committee voted 80 to 43 against the proposal. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in July that the United Nations would recognize all same-sex marriages of its staff, allowing them to receive U.N. benefits. Previously, …

Foreign Policy reports: Last June, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a far-reaching administrative ruling that offered marital benefits for the first time to all of the United Nations’ lesbian and gay employees, as well as to other U.N. workers who had entered legally recognized domestic partnerships. On Monday, March 2, Russia gave the plan a resounding nyet. Speaking Monday morning …

Via the Associated Press: U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has joined Austrian cross-dressing pop star Conchita Wurst in calling for an end to bias based on a person’s sexual orientation. Wurst teamed up with Ban on Monday on the sidelines of a U.N. conference to deliver their message of tolerance. Ban told reporters that he will continue his fight “against …

Via press release: The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) today applauded the United Nations’ top human rights body for approving a resolution condemning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, calling it an important step forward toward progress for equality and human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals. “The Human Rights Council has …

Via USA Today: U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria and Iraq are necessary to stop the terrorist threats of the Islamic State and others, President Obama told world leaders Wednesday. “The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force,” Obama told the United Nations General Assembly in his annual address. The president also called on the world’s nations …

Stereogum recaps: Meat Free Monday is a campaign to convince people who eat meat to skip eating it one day of the week to help reduce their carbon footprint. As any self-respecting Beatles fan knows (or Simpsons fan for that matter), Paul McCartney is a guy who skips eating meat seven days of the week. He once wrote a song …

Via USA Today: More than 300,000 people marched through the streets of New York City on Sunday in what organizers called the largest climate-change demonstration in history. With banners, flags, floats and drums, protesters at the “People’s Climate March” overwhelmed midtown Manhattan in flocks of vivid color, demanding action ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit this week. “I’m totally …

Via press release: Today, Free & Equal, the United Nations Human Rights Office’s global public education campaign for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality, releases “UN Free & Equal: One Billion Rising” a video highlighting the campaign’s impact to date. “In the past year, more than a billion people around the world have been exposed to Free & Equal’s …

“I have been to the United Nations and met with various representatives on the issue of same-sex parenting. I can’t reveal the names of the ambassadors I met, because this is all radioactive. But the bottom line is, whether they were from Europe, Asia, or Africa, they were more than aware that a freakish Nordic alliance of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, …

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon yesterday announced that UN employees who have legally married will have those unions recognized even if their home countries don’t. Under the new policy staff who have married a same-sex spouse in a jurisdiction will receive the same benefits and recognition as those in heterosexual marriages regardless of whether same-sex marriage is legal in their …

Via press release: On the eve of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has released an emotive, new video that focuses on the impact that each of us can have by sharing our own stories and by showing our support for our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender …

From the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: The suffering of Clayton Lockett during his execution in Oklahoma on Tuesday 29th April, may amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment according to international human rights law. It also appears to run counter to the 8 th Amendment of the United States Constitution, which states that “…nor …

Via press release: The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Wednesday launched the first ever Bollywood-style UN music video at a press conference in Mumbai to promote its Free & Equal campaign for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. The two-and-a-half minute video, called “The Welcome”, stars actress and former Miss India Celina Jaitly. Jaitly, …

Via UNAIDS Asia & the Pacific: Across Asia and the Pacific, transgender people face significant stigma and discrimination which prevents them from accessing the HIV and health services they need. Everyone has the right to live a full and healthy life with dignity. This video is proudly produced by the Asia-Pacific Transgender Network (APTN) in partnership with UNAIDS Asia and …

Inspired by a similar campaign about women’s rights, the United Nation’s human rights office has launched an ad campaign which notes the most common suggestions when Google searches are made on LGBT-related topics. More results are at the link.

In what activists hope may lead to a repeal of Russia’s national “homosexual propaganda” ban, a local court has agreed with a 2012 ruling by the United Nations Human Rights Commission and dismissed the charges against activist Irina Fet, who was arrested in 2009 after holding the above “Homosexuality Is Normal” sign.  Gay Star News reports: Ryazan regional court today …

Via press release: New York-based LGBT activist group Jamaica Anti-Homophobia Stand halted Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller’s exit from a United Nations session at the Ford Foundation in New York today. Shouting “Gay rights are human rights!” and “Portia, shame on you!” the group of seven protestors greeted the PM as she began to exit the Ford Foundation offices on …

Via press release: New York-based LGBT activist group Jamaica Anti-Homophobia Stand will protest Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Portia Simpson-Miller, on September 26th and 28th in New York as she makes appearances at the 68th UN General Assembly. Simpson Miller’s appearances come shortly after a spate of attacks and murders of gay men and transsexuals in Jamaica. Allies such as Queer Nation, …

Yesterday about a thousand activists marched on the United Nations, demanding the creation of a so-called “Robin Hood Tax” on Wall Street and financial institutions around the world. Forbes posted a press release: To commemorate the 2nd Anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, the Robin Hood tax coalition that consists of two hundred million supporters around the world including Occupy Wall …