Members of the LGBT community are facing increasing hostile acts around the world, according to several associations from 100 different countries which organized a large rally in California this week.
The LGBT community has always suffered “a very high level of violence and discrimination,” Julia Ehrt, director of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA World), pointed out at the conference. back after two years of absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
On the ground, the associations have noted a resurgence of violence and hate speech against LGBT people, or speech against gender theory, which would aim to deprive LGBT people “of the human rights they deserve”. Some activists highlighted, during this conference, the decline in rights for the community in certain countries, such as the United States.
“This year alone, more than 300 LGBT-related bills have been introduced in 36 states,” ranging from restrictions on athletic competitions to ‘don’t say gay’ laws banning talking in schools issues of sexual orientation, an activist told AFP.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a law prohibiting the teaching of subjects related to sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary school, which is to take effect on 1er July. A law which, according to the Republican, makes it possible to ensure “parents can send their children to school so that they learn, not so that they are indoctrinated”.
“This conference for the first time gives us a space where we can really have these conversations,” including about “harmful practices like ‘conversion therapy’ that are unethical, pseudo-scientific, and brutal yet legal in nearly 180 country,” Martin Karadzhov, who chairs ILGA World’s youth committee, told AFP.