UN Free & Equal is the United Nations’ global campaign for LGBTIQ+ equality.
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UN Free & Equal is an initiative of the United Nations Human Rights Office.
© OHCHRSince its launch in 2013, UN Free & Equal has contributed to increasing public support for the rights of LGBTIQ+ people, and has advocated for stronger legal protections against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity/expression and sex characteristics.
Almost a third of the world’s countries criminalize consensual, loving same-sex relationships, entrenching prejudice and putting millions of people at risk of blackmail, arrest and imprisonment. Many countries force transgender people to undergo medical treatment, sterilization or meet other abusive preconditions before they can obtain legal recognition of their gender. Intersex children are often subjected to medically unnecessary surgeries and other interventions which may cause lifelong physical and psychological pain and suffering. In many cases, a lack of adequate legal protections combined with hostile public attitudes leads to widespread discrimination and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) people – including workers being fired from jobs, students bullied and expelled from schools, and patients denied essential healthcare.
The Power of
Community
Imagine waking up in a world where you face abuse at work, school, or even at home. Where you are not able to get the healthcare you need or feel unsafe just walking down the street.
This is the reality for many of your neighbours, friends, and family members who face discrimination because of their age, ethnicity, disability – or because they are part of the LGBTIQ+ community.
No matter who you are or whom you love, having people around you who support you can be the difference between dreading each day or waking up ready to face it head on.
Communities come in all shapes and sizes. They can be built on shared interests, a shared history, or a shared need for safety and solidarity. They can be online, in your neighbourhood, or people from different times in your life who are spread all over the world. What communities all have in common is the power to support you and help you thrive.
Community
Care
What do you do when you see someone – or an entire group of people – face violence and harassment? How do you respond to hate speech sprayed on walls, written on social media, or broadcast on TV?
No one should face bigotry alone. Community means standing up in the face of hate, protesting injustice, coming together to donate to a food bank, joining someone who feels unsafe walking alone. It means inviting someone who’s left without a support network to join yours.
But fighting for your own community is not enough. At its core, community means empathy. At their best, communities help everyone, not just people who think like you, look like you, or are in relationships that look like yours. For communities to flourish, we must put solidarity at their core.
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