Washington state also #3
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
Seattle is #3 among US cities in the number of same-sex marriages, according to a new study by the Tax Policy Center, a
research group based in Washington DC. San Francisco ranked #1, followed by Santa Rosa, a city just north of San Francisco in California’s Sonoma County.
see STUDY page 12
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
Pride at Work, the AFL-CIO’s LGBT constituency organization, joined 1,044
labor, faith, and human rights groups to demand a replacement for NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement). NAFTA has been controversial since it see PRIDE AT WORK page 11
LOS ANGELES – Members of Congress [on March 21] reintroduced the Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) to protect LGBT students from schoolbased harassment, bullying, violence, and intimidation. The Williams Institute
is providing this fact sheet to assist with reporting on the issue of LGBT youth experiences with discrimination, harassment, and bullying in primary and secondary
see LGBT YOUTH page 12
Image courtesy of HRC
CHICAGO – [On March 21], the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, released the following statement on the
primary election results in Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District:
“This should be a wake-up call to Dan Lipinski,” said HRC Senior Vice Presi-
see ILLINOIS page 11
SEATTLE – Humble Design Fueled by U-Haul, a charity that helps families and veterans transitioning out of homelessness through donated home furnishings and decorating services, is opening the nonprofit’s third chapter in Seattle.
Detroit-born Humble Design has served more than 900 families since beginning its philanthropic mission in 2009. With the aid of national partner U-Haul®, the group opened its second chapter in Chicago in 2017.
The expansion to Seattle is possible through the ongoing cooperation and commitment of the Schultz Family Foundation, Microsoft, King County, and the City of Seattle.
“As Humble Design expands nationally, we look to cities like Seattle that are innovators in implementing new solutions for an overwhelmingly growing population of fragile individuals,” Humble Design co-founder Treger Strasberg stated. “All of the companies and groups that have come together to make this happen are hugely impacting the lives of those touched by hard times.”
Seattle-area companies are encouraged to sign up for group volunteer days to decorate a home, and also have the opportunity to sponsor a family. Email tia@humbledesign.org with donation and volunteer inquiries starting in late April, or learn more now by visiting humbledesign.org/seattle.
Humble Design delivers dignity to families emerging from homelessness by furnishing their residences with beds and other necessities, personal, comforts and loving touches. Turning empty spaces into warm, welcoming homes has yielded staggering results: only 1 percent of families return to homelessness after receiving the group’s services.
That level of success has turned more than a few heads in Seattle.
The Schultz Family Foundation, led by Sheri Schultz, president and co-founder, and
Howard Schultz, Starbucks® executive chairman and co-founder, has backed Humble Design’s vision with a $150,000 grant to get things rolling for the new chapter.
“The Schultz Family Foundation is proud to partner with Humble Design as they launch in Seattle/King County,” said Daniel Pitasky, the foundation’s executive director. “Humble Design is a complement to the Schultz Family Foundation’s interest in permanent housing solutions. Their program offers stability and dignity to families in transition, as well as the opportunity for members the community to better understand and support these families.”
The support of Microsoft employees, combined with Microsoft matching funds, helped generate early momentum, financing, and community support for Humble Design to expand into the Puget Sound region.
“Our employees are determined to do their part to help children and families in our region have beds to sleep in and roofs over their heads,” said Karen Bergin, Director of Employee Engagement at Microsoft Philanthropies. “They’ve helped blaze the trail into Seattle for Humble Design, an organization that has provided a sense of security and dignity to formerly homeless families in Detroit and Chicago.”
King County Executive Dow Constatine held a ribbon-cutting on March 2 to showcase a county-owned warehouse on Harbor Island where Humble Design will be able to store donated furnishings. The facility at 3235 16th Ave. SW in Seattle should be able to receive donations by the end of April.
Humble Design Seattle will begin by helping one family a week with the goal of quickly reaching three families a week.
Tia Chang has been named site manager. Chang holds a sociology degree from American University and comes to Humble Design from a prominent Seattle law firm.
Strasberg will formally announce the new chapter on Thursday at the Be Bold
Seattle event celebrating International Women’s Day, but not before Humble Design works its magic today for its first Seattle family. Single mother Andrea and her eight children will have their new apartment transformed into an inviting home after eight months of living in her car and eight months at Mary’s Place shelter for homeless families.
Mary’s Place will work with Humble Design to identify families and veterans in need in King County.
Humble Design has been profiled by NBC’s “Today Show,” ABC’s “World News Tonight,” CNN, “Inside Edition,” Forbes, and many other national and local media outlets. Since starting the nonprofit, Strasberg has focused her efforts on assisting single mothers emerging from shelters and moving with their children into low-income housing. Many families helped are victims of abuse and have left behind all material possessions.
U-Haul International signed on as Humble Design’s primary sponsor in 2016, offering the equipment, storage, and national infrastructure to make the operation more seamless and national expansion possible. Later that year, Humble Design appointed ad industry trailblazer Rob Strasberg, Treger’s husband, co-CEO to oversee the expansion efforts.
“Our goal is to end the revolving door of homelessness by turning empty spaces into warm, welcoming homes through a dignified experience that leads to successful lives,” Rob Strasberg stated.
Chapters in additional cities, including San Diego, are in the planning phases as Humble Design strives to fight homelessness on a national scale. By the end of 2018, the group will have served more than 1,000 families and changed more than 6,000 lives.
“Our shared ideals to help people meet their basic human needs make Humble Design and U-Haul effective partners,” noted Kim Merow, U-Haul Company of
South Seattle president. “There is a collective passion to make a genuine difference in Seattle while fighting the epidemic of homelessness. We’re truly honored to be a part of this affiliation and expansion into King County.”
Humble Design is a Detroit-based nonprofit that helps families transitioning out of homeless shelters by providing furnishings and design services. The organization turns empty houses into clean, dignified, and welcoming homes – a very simple idea that can change a family’s future. Co-founded by Treger Strasberg, the organization primarily serves single moms with children and helps homeless veterans and their families. The Humble Design team has served more than 900 families since 2009 and currently has branches in Detroit, Chicago, and Seattle. www. humbledesign.org
Since 1945, U-Haul has been the number 1 choice of do-it-yourself movers, with a network of more than 21,000 locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 now offers customers access to U-Haul trucks every hour of every day through the selfservice options on their internet-connected mobile devices. U-Haul customers’ patronage has enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to more than 150,000 trucks, 112,000 trailers, and 40,000 towing devices. U-Haul offers more than 581,000 rooms and more than 51 million square feet of self-storage space at owned and managed facilities throughout North America. U-Haul is the largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry and is the largest retailer of propane in the U.S. www. uhaul.com
Courtesy of U-Haul
Seattle Parks and Recreation and Generations Aging With Pride team up to offer activities programming for LGBTQ adults 50+
by Chris Grant Special to the SGN
I retired a couple of years ago, and I decided to get involved in some learning activities just for fun. I came across information about Seattle Parks and Recreation Classes (SPARC) on my NextDoor listserv, and decided to look into these classes I found in the SPARC catalog under “Aging with Pride: Programs for LGBTQ Adults 50+.” [EDITOR’S NOTE: Program schedule available in printed catalog or at https:// www.seattle.gov/parks]
This past fall season, I took two different exercise classes (“Enhance Fitness”), a writing class (“Legacy Writing,” facilitated by a wonderful writer, Mary Edwards), and a printmaking class (“Seniors Creating Art/ Printmaking”). I was grateful that all of the class facilitators were knowledgeable and FUN. My writing class and printmaking classes were on Mondays, and I began to look forward to those Mondays beginning my week so creatively. I would walk to the writing class at Miller Community Center to begin writing at 10am; then walk over to the Cal Anderson Park shelter building for the printmaking class in the afternoon. The fitness classes held on Wednesday and Friday afternoons at the Kaiser Permanente Capitol Hill Building kept me in shape, and were also so enjoyable. However, the support of one of the employees of SPARC (Emily Steelquist) and of the agency itself in providing accommodations for my inability to hear well was something that really struck me as their living their mission to provide recreation activities for all people. I felt included.
I met some wonderful people, and continued to engage in the writing process
class in winter and will sign up for spring also. I have yet to peruse the spring offering of classes, workshops, movies, sports, talks, and other community activities that the Seattle Parks and Recreation agency has put together, but I know that I will take at least
two or three of their offerings. I hope that other Seattleites will appreciate all the work so many people have put into these opportunities, and will join and participate in the low-fee or free classes. I cannot recommend it more highly, and I hope to see some of you
there! And I hope to continue to take another class on Monday afternoons (after the writing class) to have that great feeling of “It’s Monday – my favorite day!”
Sundays (every Sunday) (starting March 25)
Elders 50+. Green Lake Walk ~ Come Rain or Shine!
Hot coffee and beautiful Rainbow umbrellas to use “just in case.”
Meet at the Wading Pool ~ 7201 E. Green Lake Dr. N. ~ Noon-1pm. For info, call 206-637-0400. Wheelchairfriendly walk.
Mondays (every Monday) (starting March 26)
Elders 50+. Volunteer Park Walk ~ Come Rain or Shine!
Hot coffee and beautiful Rainbow umbrellas to use “just in case.”
Meet at the Black Sun sculpture across from Seattle Asian Art Museum ~ 14th Ave. E. & E. Prospect St. ~ Noon-1pm. For info, call 206-637-0400.
Tuesdays (every Tuesday) (starting March 27)
Elders 50+. Alki Beach Walk ~ Come Rain or Shine!
Hot coffee and beautiful Rainbow umbrellas to use “just in case.”
Meet at the Statue of Liberty ~ 61st Ave. SW & Alki Ave. SW ~ 2-3pm. For info, call 206-637-0400. Wheelchairfriendly walk.
Wednesdays (every Wednesday) (starting March 28)
Elders 50+. Volunteer Park Walk ~ Come Rain or Shine!
Hot coffee and beautiful Rainbow umbrellas to use “just in case.”
Meet at the Black Sun sculpture across from Seattle Asian Art Museum ~ 14th Ave. E. & E. Prospect St. ~ Noon-1pm. For info, call 206-637-0400.
Thursdays (every Thursday) (starting March 29)
Elders 50+. Green Lake Walk ~ Come Rain or Shine!
Hot coffee and beautiful Rainbow umbrellas to use “just in case.”
Meet at the Wading Pool ~ 7201 E. Green Lake Dr. N. ~ Noon-1pm. For info, call 206-637-0400. Wheelchairfriendly walk.
Fridays (every Friday) (starting March 30)
Elders 50+. Kubota Garden Walk ~ Come Rain or Shine!
Hot coffee and beautiful Rainbow umbrellas to use “just in case.”
Meet at the corner of 55th Ave. S. & Renton Ave. S. ~ 9817 55th Ave. S. ~ Noon-1pm. For info, call 206-637-0400. Wheelchairfriendly walk.
Saturdays (every Saturday) (starting March 31) Elders 50+. Green Lake Walk ~ Come Rain or Shine!
Hot coffee and beautiful Rainbow umbrellas to use “just in case.”
Meet at the Wading Pool ~ 7201 E. Green Lake Dr. N. ~ Noon-1pm For info, call 206-637-0400. Wheelchairfriendly walk.
Courtesy of Generations Aging With Pride
continued from cover
dent for Policy and Political Affairs JoDee Winterhof. “A politician who has fought against the rights of LGBTQ people, women, and immigrants for more than a decade in Congress went from a 24-point lead to barely holding on to his job. Now, our task is to continue holding him accountable. The people of Illinois want and deserve a representative in Congress who will stand up for their fundamental rights – not undermine them and rubberstamp the Trump-Pence agenda. If Dan Lipinski continues down the wrong path, he will not get a second chance the next time his constituents head into the voting booth.”
Rep. Lipinski has an abysmal record on LGBTQ equality and the shameful distinction of being the worst-scoring Democrat in the US House and Senate on HRC’s Congressional Scorecard. The Illinois congressman sponsored the so-called First Amendment Defense Act, which could allow widespread discrimination against LGBTQ people, and earlier this year he stated in an interview that he doesn’t support marriage equality. In 2007, Lipinski voted against a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act on the House floor, and he is one of only two House Democrats who have not expressed support for the Equality Act – federal legislation that would finally provide consistent and explicit nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people.
The HRC, NARAL Pro-Choice America, SEIU, MoveOn, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and EMILY’s List launched an unprecedented joint independent expenditure campaign against Lipinski to educate voters about his anti-LGBTQ, anti-choice, anti-worker, and anti-immigration record. The coalition spent more than $1.6 million to expose Dan Lipinski’s
record through a relentless omnimedia and on-the-ground voter persuasion and mobilization campaign, including direct mail, digital persuasion ads, peer-to-peer texting, and TV ads. In partnership with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) Action, the HRC also invested an additional $50K into a $130K Latino outreach program, targeting Spanish-speaking voters in the district through canvassing and in ads over radio and TV.
HRC staff and volunteers also spent over 1,500 hours mobilizing our thousands of members and supporters in the district to vote. They knocked on over 2,000 doors and made over 70,000 calls to voters, helping close a huge gap between the sitting member of Congress and his challenger, Marie Newman. The close race sent a clear message to Lipinski that this district, and the country, want their representatives to champion Americans’ fundamental rights
and freedoms – not undermine them.
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. The HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.
Courtesy of the HRC
continued from cover
was negotiated in the 1990s. Labor organizations charge that “free trade” treaties like NAFTA allow US corporations to relocate factories in countries where wages are low and workplace safety standards are lax. Human rights groups add that human rights and environmental regulations in those countries might also be below US standards.
“Instead of leveling the playing field, NAFTA makes it easier for big corpora-
tions to outsource jobs to Mexico to take advantage of poverty wages and lax environmental standards,” the organizations say in an open letter to federal officials.
“To date, more than 930,000 American jobs have been certified as lost to NAFTA under just one narrow government program. Meanwhile, Mexican wages are down 9% in real terms since NAFTA and below $2 per hour, while American wages have remained flat.”
The organizations recommend nine changes needed to improve trade among North American countries:
• Stop outsourcing and raise wages by
adding strong labor and environmental standards with swift and certain enforcement.
• Eliminate NAFTA terms that promote outsourcing of US jobs.
• Eliminate NAFTA rules that threaten food safety and product labeling.
• Make medicine more affordable by ending NAFTA rules that increase costs.
• Add strong, enforceable rules against currency manipulation.
• Protect US jobs and labor and environmental standards by strengthening “rules of origin” and stopping transshipment of manufactured goods.
• Require that all imported goods and all services and service providers meet US standards, and add specific safeguards for US labor, heath, environmental, and other public interest standards.
• Boost the rural economy by rewriting NAFTA rules that harm family farmers.
• The NAFTA renegotiation process must be transparent and participatory.
Spokespeople for the Citizens Trade Campaign, the coalition that sponsored the group letter, said that local activists would deliver copies to federal lawmakers in as many districts as possible.
continued from cover
There are about 9,300 same-sex married couples in the Seattle area, about 1.1% of all married couples, according to the study. Fiftyfive percent of them are Lesbian couples.
Statewide, 11,200 Gay or Lesbian married couples filed joint tax returns for 2015 – and 83% of them were living in the Seattle area.
The Tax Policy Center is a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. Their researchers used tax returns for the 2015 calendar year, the first year that gay marriage was legal nationwide, to estimate the number of same-sex married couples.
The report ranks the nation’s 100 largest “commuting zones,” which correspond more or less to the Census Bureau’s “metropolitan statistical areas.”
Boston came in behind Seattle at #4, and Portland, Oregon, came in at #5.
At the other end of the spectrum is Provo, Utah, which edged out Brownsville, Texas, for the lowest rate of same-sex married couples. Seattle’s rate is more than eight times higher.
Nationally, about 250,000 gay married couples filed joint tax returns in 2015. In terms of raw numbers, the New York City area had the most same-sex married couples, with about 13,900.
Looking at state rankings, Washington ranks third, in a tie with Delaware. In both, same-sex married couples made up 0.85% of all joint tax filers. Vermont and Massachusetts had the highest rate, just about 1%. North Dakota came in last, at around onetenth of one percent.
The report also shows that married same-sex couples have distinct demographic profiles, different from their oppositesex counterparts. Both Gay and Lesbian married couples report higher incomes than opposite-sex couples.
They are also younger and less likely to claim dependent children, especially male couples. About 15% of same-sex marriages are interracial, more than twice the rate of opposite-sex marriages.
Nationally, same-sex couples are most concentrated in the Northeast and midAtlantic states, the West Coast, and New Mexico.
The highest share of Gay couples are in major cities, while Lesbian couples are more concentrated in smaller cities and towns. In this respect, Seattle is an excep -
Source: Office of Tax Analysis
schools. Williams Institute scholars are available for comment.
LGBT students in the United States
In the United States, an estimated 3.2 million youth (ages 8-18) are LGBTQ. Among older youth, approximately 8% or 1.6 million youth (in grades 9-12) identify as LGB, and nearly 1% or 150,000 youth (ages 13-17) identify as transgender.
Federal statutes currently protect schoolchildren by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex, national origin, race, and religion, but do not explicitly protect students from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. According to Williams Institute findings:
Only 20 states and the District of Columbia have anti-discrimination or anti-bullying laws that explicitly protect LGBT students. Approximately 55% of LGBT youth live in states that do not have laws that explicitly protect them from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Individual schools and school districts can also prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. However, in a 2015 survey, only 10.2% of LGBT students reported that they attended schools with explicit anti-bullying or anti-
tion to the national trend.
Lesbian married couples also outnumber Gay couples, but the data show a wide range from place to place.
Among the nation’s largest commuting zones, a whopping 72% of Miami’s same-sex couples are Gay, while in Eugene,
discrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.
LGBT bullying and discrimination in schools
Documented evidence indicates that LGBT youth regularly experience discrimination and harassment because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. For example, a 2015 report by GLSEN found that:
85% of LGBT students have experienced verbal harassment; 58% of LGBT youth have felt unsafe at school due to their sexual orientation; 43% have felt unsafe because of their gender identity; and 27% of LGBT students have been physically harassed at school because of their sexual orientation; 13% have been physically harassed because of their gender identity.
In 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that with regard to LGBT youth: 34% have experienced bullying while on school grounds; and 28% have experienced electronic or cyber bullying.
Many transgender adults report that they experienced harassment at school when they were younger. The 2015 US Transgender Survey found that of those who identified as transgender in grades K-12:
Oregon, 75% of the couples are Lesbian. Washington is one of just two states –along with Hawaii – that publish both its number of recorded same-sex marriages and the state of residence of the couples.
That was useful for researchers because it allowed them to test their findings against
verified administrative records.
The study’s estimated number of samesex married couples for Washington came within 0.3% of the state’s own record keeping, confirming the essential accuracy of the study.
54% reported being verbally harassed; 24% reported being physically attacked; and 17% reported leaving a school because the mistreatment was so bad.
Supportive environments matter
According to GLSEN, LGBTQ students who attend schools with anti-bullying or anti-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity experience less anti-LGBT victimization than LGBT youth at schools without those protections. Heightened exposure to bullying and harassment by sexual and gender minority youth is associated with an increased risk of absenteeism, lower GPAs, school discipline, and decreased rates of college or other post–high school plans. It
is also associated with increased odds of negative health outcomes and risky behaviors, such as lower self-esteem, higher levels of depression, and increased alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, marijuana use, and use of other illicit drugs. A 2014 Williams Institute report found that over half of transgender adults who experienced harassment or bullying in school reported lifetime suicide attempts.
The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, a think tank on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, is dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research with real-world relevance.
Courtesy of the Williams Institute
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
Right-wing lawyer Chris Sevier lost his legal bid to marry his laptop on March 20, when a federal district judge ordered a Utah state court to dismiss his case.
Sevier filed suit shortly after the US Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell legalized same-sex marriages nationwide. Since same-sex marriages would be merely “parody forms” of “real” marriage, he claimed, he should have the right to a parody marriage of his own, namely to his laptop.
Sevier later amended his suit to include the claims of John Gunter, Jr., and Whitney Kohl, who sought the right to enter into a polygamous marriage.
When a Utah magistrate judge refused to marry Sevier and his beloved laptop, he sued in federal court, asserting a 14th Amendment equal protection right to marry the object of his affections.
Although the State of Utah opposed marriage equality during litigation, Utah Attorney General David Wolf said he would continue to defend the state’s laws.
“Prior to Obergefell, same-sex individuals did not have the right to marry. The attorney general took the position he would defend the law as expressed by the people of Utah,” he said.
“After Obergefell, the law of the land is same-sex couples have the constitutional right to marry. Our office defends the law.”
In addition, Wolf told federal judge David Nuffer, Sevier’s laptop was less than 15 years old, and therefore could not be legally married in the state of Utah.
In his ruling, Nuffer ordered the Utah magistrate judge to toss Sevier’s case, saying Sevier was not interested in marrying his laptop but wanted instead overturn marriage equality.
Sevier told Fox 13 News he was appealing the decision.
“Other plaintiffs will come behind us
to sue the State once again, only this time they will not be pleading in the alternative under the 14th Amendment to expand marriage to other parody forms if the Court wants to continue to advance the ploy and the unprincipled misapplication of the 14th Amendment that is the hallmark of Obergefell,” he said in a statement.
“The District Court in our case is guilty of perpetrating constitutional, political, and judicial malpractice.
“The Utah District Court is immensely dishonest and untrustworthy.
“Because the Court perpetrated derelic-
tion of duties owed to the United States Constitution, we will be pressuring oversight to remove the District Court judges from office for cause.”
The laptop suit is not Sevier’s first bizarre news-making stunt.
He was previously charged with stalking and harassing both country star John Rich and a 17-year-old girl.
Sevier also has been charged with failure to pay child support and violating a restraining order by communicating with his former wife. The order resulted from Sevier’s 2011 arrest and conviction for
assaulting his father-in-law.
In 2013, he sued Apple for selling him a computer without preinstalled pornography filters. He claims this led to an addiction and dissolution of his marriage to a woman.
“The Plaintiff began desiring younger, more beautiful girls featured in porn videos than his wife, who was no longer 21,” his complaint read. He did not say whether his supposed computer porn addiction led to his romance with the laptop.
[On March 22], a court of appeals in Kenya, led by a five-judge bench, ruled that forced anal examinations are contrary to the law.
Forced anal examinations have largely been used to “prove” whether or not a man is homosexual in countries where homosexuality is criminalized. This practice has been decried by organizations across the globe as dehumanizing and as amounting to torture, not to mention being discredited by the scientific community as holding no value as proof.
The case came to the courts after two suspected gay men were arrested in 2015 and forced to undergo both anal examinations and HIV tests, in order to determine if they had engaged in consensual intercourse.
The men were represented by the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) in Kenya, a leading LGBTIQ organization providing pro bono legal services to many in the community.
In a press release disseminated by NGLHRC, Njeri Gateru, Head of Legal Affairs, said, “We are thankful that the Appeal Court has put Kenyan citizens’ rights first. With this ruling, the judges are saying that we all deserve to be treated with dignity and afforded our basic rights, as
enshrined in the Kenyan Constitution.”
Currently, under Kenya’s penal code, same-sex behavior is criminalized, with a penalty of up to 14 years in prison. Currently, Kenya’s High Court is considering a case that could decriminalize homosexuality; the next court hearing will be on April 26th.
While this is good news for Kenya, other countries continue to implement this practice.
[In] ongoing and increasing crackdowns on LGBTIQ people, reportedly both Egyptian and Tanzanian authorities have forced alleged gay men to undergo anal exams.
Jessica Stern, Executive Director, OutRight Action International, commented on the ruling: “Forced anal examinations amount to torture, and no one should ever be exposed to such a degrading and dehu-
manizing experience. The Kenyan courts ruled in favor of international law and in favor of human dignity. Other countries should follow suit and put an end to this discredited practice.”
Every day around the world, LGBTIQ people’s human rights and dignity are abused in ways that shock the conscience. The stories of their struggles and their resilience are astounding, yet remain unknown – or willfully ignored – by those with the power to make change. OutRight Action International, founded in 1990 as the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, works alongside LGBTIQ people in the Global South, with offices in six countries, to help identify communityfocused solutions to promote policy for lasting change. It vigilantly monitors and documents human rights abuses to spur action when they occur. It trains partners to expose abuses and advocate for themselves. Headquartered in New York City, OutRight is the only global LGBTIQ-specific organization with a permanent presence at the United Nations in New York that advocates for human rights progress for LGBTIQ people.
Courtesy of OutRight Action International
