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COMMUNITY CALL
JUNE 6, 1 PM (EST)
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Discuss the human rights trends outlined in this year's report that impact LGBT communities abroad with:
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Dan Baer and White House National Security Council Director for Human Rights and Gender, Liz Drew
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MAILING LIST
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Community Call to Discuss State Department's Annual Human Rights Report
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 The State Department released its annual human rights report on May 24. (Copies are available here.) See the Council's critique here. The Congressionally mandated report chronicles human rights conditions in every foreign country, and it now includes a specific section in every country chapter on "Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity." Join us this Wednesday, June 6, at 1 PM (EST), for a Community Call to discuss human rights trends outlined in this year's report that impact LGBT communities abroad. The Council will convene the call, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Dan Baer and White House National Security Council Director for Human Rights and Gender, Liz Drew, will discuss those trends and highlight steps the Administration is taking to respond to them.
Please rsvp here to sign up for the call and receive the call-in instructions.
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State Department and USAID Announce Historic LGBT Grants
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 The State Department released a Request for Proposals (RFP) in April with a minimum of $1.55 million in funding to support LGBT initiatives globally, including funding for a new rapid response, "Dignity for All," fund that will provide emergency assistance to LGBT advocates and communities at the forefront of the movement to promote global equality. USAID also announced a $242,000 grant to Colombia Diversa, a leading LGBT advocacy organization in Colombia, during an event to commemorate Pride month this June. The Council is delighted to see this next phase of foreign assistance for LGBT equality from the State Department and USAID.
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Council Releases NGO Guide to U.S. Embassies
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 The Council released a new NGO guide, Accessing U.S. Embassies: A Guide for LGBT Human Rights Defenders, to mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) on May 17. The guide is available in English, Spanish and French. It highlights the various diplomatic tools that U.S. embassies use to advance a range of human rights and development objectives, from diplomatic "démarches," to support for LGBT refugees to the drafting of the annual human rights report that is required of every U.S. embassy. It also looks at various opportunities that exist for U.S. embassies to partner with LGBT advocates.
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Council Joins U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and U.S. Consulate in Osaka to Mark LGBT Pride Month
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 Council Chair Mark Bromley joined the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and the U.S. Consulate in Osaka to lead discussions on LGBT-related human rights issues to mark the Embassy's Pride Month celebrations. The program, called "Pride of LGBT," discussed the state of the LGBT movement in the United States and globally and invited Japanese politicians, activists, students and business leaders to participate in an open discussion about our shared commitments to promoting global equality. In Osaka, openly gay U.S. Consul General, Patrick Linehan, moderated the discussion. He and his husband, Emerson Kaneguske, have been role models in support of LGBT equality in Japan. The program was capped by the first Pride reception at the Tokyo residence of U.S. Ambassador John Roos, where the Ambassador and Counsel General Linehan presented an award to the first transgender politician in Japan, Aya Kamikawa.
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Council and Open Society Host Delegation of Eastern European Advocates in Washington
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Together with Open Society Foundations, the Council hosted advocacy visits to Washington by LGBT advocates from Moldova, Russia and Ukraine. All three countries are considering laws that would ban the "propaganda of homosexuality." Russia already has a new law against "homosexual propaganda" on the books in St. Petersburg and two other cities and is reported to be considering a similar law at the national level. Ukraine is debating two such national bills, with potential jail time for any public discussion of homosexuality. Moldova also recently passed local ordinances declaring "homosexual-free" zones in the country, and officials stripped sexual orientation provisions from a federal non-discrimination bill. The advocates met with State Department officials, Members of Congress and other Washington advocacy organizations to raise an alarm about these dangerous bills.
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Focus on LGBT Refugees
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To mark IDAHO Day in Washington, the Council for Global Equality moderated a forum at the Human Rights Campaign that focused on a new report by Human Rights First, entitled The Road to Safety: Strengthening Protection of LGBTI Refugees in Uganda and Kenya, that chronicles the vulnerability of LGBT refugees in Eastern Africa. The Head of the State Department's Refugee Bureau, Assistant Secretary Anne Richard, spoke at the event, noting recent efforts by the Department to protect LGBT refugees. Advocacy groups have become increasingly concerned that the State Department is not doing as much as it could to respond to these needs, and the IDAHO-Day discussion represented an important effort to advance this policy dialogue. See remarks by Assistant Secretary Richard here, and a recent examination of the topic in the Advocate here.
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| Council Facilitates Historic LGBT Meeting in Caribbean Region | | |
In February, ARC International convened an "International Dialogue" in St. Lucia to promote cross-regional discussion and coalition building to advance human rights protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity at the local regional and UN levels. Such a large gathering of Caribbean groups working on these issues had never come together before for regional strategy building. To take advantage of this unprecedented gathering, the Council organized a parallel meeting dedicated to funding for the region. Participants included a significant combination of both private and government donors. Together, activists and donors outlined priority funding needs and challenges in the Caribbean.
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