Contact:

Mark Bromley, Council Chair, 202-719-0511 x12

Jessica Stern, Executive Director, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, 917-355-3262

June 5, 2013 – The Council for Global Equality and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) applaud President Obama’s decision to name Ambassador Susan Rice, who currently serves as the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, as his new national security adviser and to nominate Samantha Power, a longtime friend of the human rights community, to take her place as the next U.S. Ambassador to the UN. 

Mark Bromley, Chair of the Council for Global Equality, said: “We were pleased to honor Ambassador Rice with our Global Equality Award last year in recognition of her leadership and stalwart support for LGBT rights at the United Nations.  And the announcement today was certainly a double hit, as Samantha Power, who was nominated to take her place and serve as our next UN Ambassador, has been a great friend of LGBT rights – and of human rights for all – at the White House.  We couldn’t think of two stronger LGBT allies in the foreign policy world.” 

For Immediate Release

Contact:

Mark Bromley - Council Chair, 202-719-0511 x12, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Julie Dorf - Sr. Advisor, 202-719-0511 x13, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Washington, DC – March 13, 2013 –The Council for Global Equality applauds the 62 members of the U.S. Congress, who yesterday, called on Chairman Rybak of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, urging the country to refrain from passing pending anti-gay laws. These so-called “Homosexual Propaganda” laws clearly violate basic freedoms of assembly, speech, and press, with criminal sanctions of up to six years in prison for positive media portrayals of same-sex relationships or public gatherings for LGBT rights.

The bipartisan letter was led by Congressman Eric Swalwell of California who stated: “Ukraine in recent decades has made significant strides and commitments to human rights, but these bills threaten to create an environment that condones state-sanctioned discrimination against LGBT people. This is a clear violation of the fundamental freedoms that both of our countries respect and I urge the parliament to reject both of these bills.”

Washington, DC – May 25, 2012 – The Department of State’s 2011 Human Rights Report, released yesterday, catalogues an ongoing range of abuses and discriminatory treatment directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people worldwide – starkly underscoring what Secretary Hillary Clinton has called “…one of the remaining human rights challenges of our time.” 

Speaking in Geneva last December, Secretary Clinton noted that, too often, LGBT people remain an “invisible minority,” members of which “…are arrested, beaten, terrorized, even executed…” while “…authorities empowered to protect them look the other way or, too often, even join in the abuse.”

The newly released report bears witness to such abuse.  Most disturbingly, it documents that police, other government security forces, and prison personnel have been implicated directly in the harassment or abuse of LGBT citizens in a range of countries, including (but not limited to) Afghanistan, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, and Panama.  Harassment and abuse often were directed in particular at transgender individuals.  In Turkey, a range of LGBT organizations complained of harassment by police and government authorities.  In Cote d’Ivoire, the report notes that “gay men were reportedly subjected to beatings, imprisonment, verbal abuse, humiliation, and extortion by police, gendarmes, and members of the armed forces.”

IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 17, 2011

Contact: Mark Bromley – Council Chair
202-719-0511 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

June 17, 2011—For the First time, the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva has adopted a resolution expressing concern at acts of violence and discrimination committed against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.  The text calls on the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a global study outlining discriminatory laws, practices and acts of violence directed at LGBT individuals, with recommendations on how to put an end to such fundamental human rights abuses.  The study will be reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council next year.  The resolution was tabled by South Africa and it enjoyed strong support from the United States and a broad coalition of voting states from all regions of the world.  It was adopted in Geneva today by a vote of 23 countries in support, 19 against and 3 abstentions.

Contact: Mark Bromley
202-607-6813

Geneva, November 5 – A high-level US government delegation today defended the country’s human rights record before the Human Rights Council at the UN in Geneva. In preparation for the review, the Council for Global Equality submitted a report to the US government and to the UN to emphasize the lack of rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans. The Council is pleased that during the meeting today, known as the “Universal Periodic Review,” the US government freely admitted that the US civil rights record is incomplete and that LGBT Americans are among those who are still fighting to achieve full equality.

MEDIA ADVISORY

Washington, DC – October 21, 2009–The Council for Global Equality joined Fair Wisconsin and Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights in awarding Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin the first‐ever Global Equality Leadership Award. The Council’s first award is being presented jointly by all three organizations on October 20, 20009 in recognition of the Congresswoman’s work to promote human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities at the local, national and international levels.

For Immediate Release, October 7, 2009

Contact Julie Dorf, 202-719-0511

Orlando, FL, October 6, 2009 – The Council for Global Equality has released a new report examining workplace policies for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees of U.S. corporate facilities overseas. The report, Anchoring Equality: How U.S. Corporations Can Build Equal and Inclusive Global Workforces, was released at the Out & Equal Workplace Summit, the nation’s premier corporate equality conference.

For Immediate Release, October 8, 2009

Contact Mark Bromley 202-719-0511

Warsaw, Poland – October 8, 2009–In Warsaw, Poland, during an important regional human rights conference, the U.S. State Department raised concerns for the first time over human rights violations directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities in Europe and North America. At the annual human rights meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which includes Eastern and Western Europe and North America, the United States delegation is speaking out against violations of the rights to freedom of association, especially those targeting gay pride marches in Eastern Europe, while also noting patterns of extreme violence targeting LGBT citizens in the United States and Europe. This is the first time that the United States has used its position within the OSCE to address these alarming human rights trends.