After a 20-year legal and political debate over the definition of marriage, New York state has finally passed a bill permitting same-sex marriage.
The decision will have an enormous impact across the United States.
In May, a Gallup poll found 53 percent of Americans believe in same-sex marriage. A similar poll conducted last year showed the figure was 44 percent.
This is similar to Australia where a Galaxy poll in 2007 found 57 percent of Australians favoured same-sex marriage. Earlier this year the same polling group found the number had increased to 75 percent.
The right of adults to enter into consensual marriage is enshrined in international human rights standards.
Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, “Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.”
For more than a decade, this non-discrimination principle has been interpreted by UN treaty bodies and numerous intergovernmental human rights bodies as prohibiting discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.
Non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation has become an internationally recognised principle and many countries have responded by bringing their domestic laws into line with this principle in a range of spheres including partnership rights.
New York’s move follows a decision by the Human Rights Council on June 17 to adopt the first-ever UN resolution on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
The resolution will commission the first-ever UN report on the challenges LGBT people face and will open a broader international discussion on how best to promote and protect their human rights.
Despite these positive moves, people in many countries still face human rights abuses and violations because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, including torture, rape, criminal sanctions, and killing.
For many years Amnesty International (AI) has been fighting for the human rights of LGBT people around the world.
Our report Not an illness nor a crime: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Turkey demand equality highlights the discrimination LGBT people face from officials in health services, education, housing and the workplace.
The pervasive prejudice in Turkey, and the fear of ostracism and attacks, means many feel compelled to conceal their sexual orientation, even from their families.
Homophobic statements by government officials have encouraged discrimination against individuals.
In 2010, LGBT associations in Turkey documented 16 murders of individuals believed to have been killed due to their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Many hate crimes often go unreported and even when they are, such acts are not registered as crimes.
Earlier this year, AI conducted a campaign against an anti-homosexuality bill that was going through the Ugandan parliament.
Parliament was dissolved before the bill could be debated or voted on but the bill may yet be reintroduced. AI is watching the situation.
Uganda has a poor track record in this area. David Kato, the advocacy officer for the organisation Sexual Minorities Uganda, died on his way to hospital, after he was hit on the head by an unknown attacker at his home in the Mukono district, outside Kampala.
What is deeply worrying about this case is that the Ugandan Government has been conspicuously silent about discriminatory rhetoric against LGBT people.
Despite progress in some countries, abuses continue in many corners of the world. Some recent examples include:
* In Botswana, under Penal Code Section 164, homosexuality is criminalised and punishable with prison time.
* In Cameroon, arrests, prosecutions and trials of gay men occur on a regular basis. Jean-Claude Roger Mbede has been sentenced to 36 months in prison for homosexuality, a criminal offence under Section 347a of the Cameroonian Penal Code.
* In May, Moscow authorities banned the city’s gay pride march, claiming a “large number of people had objected to it”.
* A leading gay rights activist in Mexico, Quetzalcoatl Leija Herrera, was attacked and killed outside his home in Guerrero in early May. Police continue to interview the gay community as they do not believe his death was the result of a hate crime, but the result of an argument with a former lover — a claim which has been vehemently denied by the gay community.
All people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity should enjoy the full range of human rights, without exception.
The Human Rights Council’s resolution and the vote for same-sex marriage in New York are positive steps towards achieving these basic human rights.
In Australia, the tide of history appears to favour equality and opinion polls point to the fact that it is only a matter of time before same-sex marriage is finally legalised.
By CLAIRE MALLINSON
info: Claire Mallinson (pictured) is the National Director of Amnesty International Australia.
