The Council for Global equality is proud to announce the selection of, Ambassador Susan E. Rice, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, as the recipient of the 2012 Global Equality Leadership Award.
Across her tenure, Ambassador Rice has spoken eloquently to the principle that, like all minorities, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people worldwide are entitled to the same protections, respect and rights accorded to others. Under her leadership, the United States joined the UN General Assembly in condemning violence, harassment, and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and led in restoring sexual orientation to a keystone UN human rights resolution against extrajudicial executions. By directing the full force of U.S. diplomacy to that issue, Ambassador Rice helped put LGBT rights on the UN agenda with an unprecedented new appeal to all countries in all regions of the world.
Ambassador Rice’s leadership was also crucial to the success of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), a Council member, in securing consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. At the United Nations, unfriendly governments long have fought to exclude LGBT organizations and experts from participating in UN human rights meetings. Indeed, that battle is now a proxy for the larger recognition of LGBT rights at the United Nations. Without the leadership of Ambassador Rice, IGLHRC and other LGBT organizations might still be excluded from such important debates.
Ambassador Rice has consistently grounded our U.N. Mission’s representation on these matters in principles embodied in our country’s founding documents, as well as those contained in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Her leadership is in the best traditions of U.S. diplomacy.
The Global Equality Leadership Award will be presented to Ambassador Rice on October 10 in New York at a private reception.
