{"id":12405,"date":"2019-11-17T14:34:03","date_gmt":"2019-11-17T08:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/?p=12405"},"modified":"2019-11-17T14:41:04","modified_gmt":"2019-11-17T08:56:04","slug":"a-global-look-at-lgbt-violence-and-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/a-global-look-at-lgbt-violence-and-bias\/","title":{"rendered":"A global look at LGBT violence and bias"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kathmandu (Pahichan) November 17 – U.N. independent expert\u2019s report examines root causes and highlights danger spots and progress .<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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Costa Rican magistrate Victor Madrigal-Borloz<\/a>\u00a0has served for the past 21 months as the U.N. independent expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. He will present his\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0on how laws and cultural norms adversely affect LGBT individuals to the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday. The Gazette interviewed Madrigal-Borloz, who is the Eleanor Roosevelt Senior Visiting Researcher with the\u00a0Human Rights Program<\/a>\u00a0at Harvard Law School, to talk about his work and his hopes for the future.<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Q&A<\/h2>\n

Victor Madrigal-Borloz<\/h3>\n

GAZETTE:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>Why did you decide to take on this role?<\/p>\n

MADRIGAL-BORLOZ:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>I have been working in the field of human rights for over 20 years and I saw the possibility to bring about substantial change. The topic bears a lot of significance to me, as a gay man myself. I have been working on these issues for over a decade, first at the Inter-American Commission [on Human Rights] and now at the global level. I have seen many people suffer as a result of stigma and discrimination, and this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something about it and put my skills at the service of a cause.<\/p>\n

GAZETTE:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>What did your report find in terms of the root causes of violence and discrimination against LGBT people?<\/p>\n

MADRIGAL-BORLOZ:<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>There are primary and secondary root cases. First, there is the notion that societies are structured around certain power relations, which have been designed in relation to a person\u2019s sex. Your role in society is determined by your genital configuration. That\u2019s a very basic construction, and all forms of violence and discrimination come from a defense of those power relations. The other factors come from mechanisms that aim to protect those power relations, such as the idea that gay, lesbian, or trans people don\u2019t exist, and the stigma around them, which is enabled through the message that gay, trans, bisexual, and lesbian people are sick or mentally ill. The other aspect is criminalization. Same-sex relations are still criminalized in 69 countries, which means that, as of today, over 2 billion people live in countries where being gay or lesbian is illegal. Another factor is demonization expressed in the notion that somehow LGBT lives are sinful, immoral; that gays or lesbians cannot be good citizens. The idea is that at the end of the day, there\u2019s something immoral about our existence, and that\u2019s what all of us need to fight against.<\/p>\n

GAZETTE:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>Of your findings, which ones struck you the most?<\/p>\n

MADRIGAL-BORLOZ:<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>What disturbs me is that in 2019 there are countries that are considering bringing back the death penalty for same-sex relations. There was a discussion in Uganda about it, and early this year Brunei Darussalam enacted legislation allowing the stoning of gay men. That, to me, is shocking. What I also find surprising is that there are environments that are actually extremely progressive when it comes to gender identity, but can be very restrictive when it comes to sexual orientation and vice versa. In Pakistan, for example, there is an extremely forward legislation on the recognition of gender identity, but sexual orientation is very much criminalized. Sexual orientation has always been a more challenging notion for societies, which in general have used the notion of a traditional binary, hetero-parental family as the nucleus of society, and this has been recognized in public discourse and in the law. But what we also know is that homosexuals, lesbians, and bisexuals have existed and sought happiness all throughout history.<\/p>\n