LGBTQ and the Human Rights Issues

This essay analyzes the human rights issues faced by the LGBTQ community globally. It discusses the challenges faced by them, the role of government and NGOs in resolving the issues, and the violation of their basic rights.

Running head: LGBTQ AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
LGBTQ and the human rights issues
Name of the student
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Author Note

1LGBTQ AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
Introduction
The aim of the essay is to analyze the issue of the human rights related to the LGBTQ
community and the issues and the challenges faced by them at the global level. For the purpose
of the analysis of the issues, this paper has been divided into three distinct parts, the first part of
the analysis discusses about the current issues faced by the people belonging to this group, while
the next part of the essay is the analysis of the issues and the last part of the essay is the role of
the government and the NGOs in resolving the issues.
Discussion
The LGBTQ community and the people belonging to the community are generally
divided into lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual and the queer. Even though it is
difficult to derive the total number of people belonging to the community, it is estimated that
countries like America has over 8 million who belong to this community. In Canada the total
numbers of people belonging to this community are estimated to be 1.7% of homosexuals and
1.3%, bisexual1.
However data says that there are large scale violence ad inequalities even some forms of
torture are also inflicted towards which refers to the fact that there are wide scale violation of
their rights. In case of the developing countries, instances of such societal discrimination are
even higher2. It has been argued by the scholar around the world, the process of discrimination
1 "LGBT Rights". 2019. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/topic/lgbt-rights
2 "LGBT Rights". 2019. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/topic/lgbt-rights

2LGBTQ AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
has its origin in the mindset of the people. However it is not to rule out that there are not much
steps taken to safeguard their interest. There are multiple national and international institutions
of the world that deals with protection of the rights of the people belonging to this community.
Some of the issues faced by these people categorized into two categories, political and social3.
There are large scale abuses both verbal and abuses, torture, killing and execution and it is to be
argued here that there is lack of proper mechanism for the protection of their rights. In the
political sphere, there are evidences of ignorance of their rights, health, education even their
dignity4. There are large numbers of political and social movements around the world raising
their voice against this injustice. The following part of the essay will be discussing about the
issues related to the protection of the basic human rights of the people belonging this community
around the world.
Issues and challenges around the world:
It has been argued by scholar that countries suffer from the contradictions accepting the
same-sex behavior and developing a legal system that does not criminalize such act. It is further
argued number of countries have failed to legalize the same-sex behavior even at this century
even though there are changes in opinion and judicial decision in many of the Asian countries of
3 Smith, Miriam, Marla Brettschneider, Susan Burgess, and Christine Keating. "Homonationalism and the
Comparative Politics of LGBTQ Rights." LGBTQ Politics: A Critical Reader(2017): 458-476.
4 De Santis, Joseph P., Shayne D. Hauglum, Diego A. Deleon, Elias Provencio-Vasquez, and Allan E. Rodriguez.
2016. "HIV Risk Perception, HIV Knowledge, And Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Transgender Women In South
Florida". Public Health Nursing 34 (3): 210-218. doi:10.1111/phn.12309.

3LGBTQ AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
the world5. However it is important to consider the rights if these people in order to analyze their
implications of it. Most of the countries of the north and south America have largely supported
the cause of protection of the LGBTQ rights however it is not to forget that there are countries
which do not take a stand in the issues are acknowledge the presence of this large number of
people6. Rights that these people varies from country to country.
According to the Human rights watch, it has been observed that there are multiple
concerns and issues related to the LGBTQ community and these are discussed in the following
part of the essay
Health related issues and rights: according to the data, the people of this community do
not get enough and efficient health care benefits in U. S and there exists significant barriers to
the health care provision. One of the primary reasons for the health care barriers is the
discrimination and absence of proper infrastructure to cater the need of the people of this
community7. It is even more astonishing to note that the women of the same community do face
larger issues than the men counterpart irrespective of the cultural and social context. There are
countries do not provide the leverage to the people to have their basic protection of rights. For
example, it has been observed in past that people detected with HIV belonging to this community
are seen in a discriminatory manner8. They are denied medical health in many cases and some of
5 "“You Don’T Want Second Best” | Anti-LGBT Discrimination In US Health Care". 2019. Human Rights Watch.
https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/07/23/you-dont-want-second-best/anti-lgbt-discrimination-us-health-care.
6 Goldberg-Hiller, Jonathan. 2017. "Esthetics And Methods In The Study Of Sexual Rights". Social & Legal
Studies 26 (6): 757-775. doi:10.1177/0964663917727343.
7 Stone, Amy L. "The Impact of Anti‐Gay Politics on the LGBTQ Movement." Sociology Compass 10, no. 6 (2016):
459-467.
8 Snapp, Shannon D., Stephen T. Russell, Mariella Arredondo, and Russell Skiba. "A right to disclose: LGBTQ
youth representation in data, science, and policy." In Advances in child development and behavior, vol. 50, pp. 135-

4LGBTQ AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
their mistreatment has escalated into mental depression of the people of LGBTQ community.
Hence it is to be argues that the protection of basic rights of health benefit is denied to many
people over the world and this scenario is not inclusive to the people of the developing countries.
Issues relating to the protection of their health issues are not new even 8% of the people of the
country have complained about the mistreatment they have received from the doctors. It is
further argued that their interest is not protected since the medical practitioners do not bother to
refuse these people basic health care benefits9. There are example of women from the state of
South Florida detected with HIV have argued to have denied their basic rights to treatment.
Hence it is argued that the percentage of women and men of this community compared to the rest
of the population is higher in number.
Political and social issues:
One of the key issues under the political and social concerns faced by the LGBTQ can be
clubbed under the heading of employment issues: it is to be noted that the number of
employment opportunities for the people of this community is skewed and it is even difficult for
them to get employed of their choice. According to the Pew Research conducted in 2013, it has
been observed that over 21% of the people of this community are given ill treatment in case of
employment and it is primarily due to the gender inequality and biases attached to it. Moreover
the issue is even more complex in case of the people who face racial discrimination along with
the gender biasness10. For example, the Black people of the LGBTQ communities are one of the
159. JAI, 2016.
9 Jones, Owen. "Putting LGBTQ people back on the canvas of history." The Lancet 390, no. 10092 (2017): 352-353.
10 Goldberg-Hiller, Jonathan. 2017. "Esthetics And Methods In The Study Of Sexual Rights". Social & Legal
Studies 26 (6): 757-775. doi:10.1177/0964663917727343.

5LGBTQ AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
worst sufferers of this discrimination and it is imperative to note that one of the primary factors
for their discrimination is the societal mindset and the political legislations of the country. Even
when there are changes in the employment rules and better number of opportunities it is further
argued that the harassment at the workplace is higher for this people. Hence it is could be argued
that the community as a whole and individual in particular are not being protected against the
violation of their rights.
Poverty: one of the social factors responsible for the plight of the community is the issues
related to their financial status. It has been observed that LGBTQ people are more likely to earn
less annually than the rest of the population. It is their economic status which has harmful effect
on their overall well being11. Even in case of the transgender people the economic status is severe
which is the primary reasons for the violation of rights at the social and the political sphere
because less of financial independence tend to make them feel inferior in terms of voicing their
demands.
It has been argued by the scholars around the world that there is a system of “backlash”
taking place all around the world in every society towards the people of this community12. This is
even higher in case of some countries where the people face large scale discrimination, societal
rejection and unequal opportunities. Therefore it is right to argue that the large scale violation of
the rights of the people of this community is not an isolated phenomenon rather it is prevalent
and embedded in all forms at all levels. However this does not rule out the fact that idea of
people about and there level of acceptability have been increasing. There is a positive side to the
11 "No Support | Russia’S “Gay Propaganda” Law Imperils LGBT Youth". 2019. Human Rights Watch.
https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/12/11/no-support/russias-gay-propaganda-law-imperils-lgbt-youth
12 Gallo-Silver, Les, David Bimbi, and Michael Rembis. "Reclaiming the sexual rights of LGBTQ people with
attendant care dependent mobility impairments." In Disabling Domesticity, pp. 195-213. Palgrave Macmillan, New
York, 2017.

6LGBTQ AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
issue since there are countries who have taken progressive laws to adapt and accept their
presence at the social level. For example, it has been observed that between the periods of 2005
to 2015, over 21 countries have legalized the same-sex behavior (Argentina, Brazil, Canda,
France, Ireland)13. This change of behavior have led to the believe in the mind of the people of
this community that society would be more accepting to them and the political legislations
would be more focused concerning their needs in future. There have large scale growth of the
international and national platforms and institutions around the world focusing on building the
network to cater to the voice of the people having similar situations.
Conclusion
It is important to note that the issues ad concern of the individuals of this community are
increasing as there are more number of people voicing their interest and asking for protection of
their rights. Hence it is to be argued that there are two sides and contradiction to these issues.
On one hand there are countries like Iran who treats the people of this community by awarding
death penalties, there are countries where people are having liberty to express their love openly
with the help of societal acceptance. Hence the rights of the people are crucial to the overall
social and political growth of a country. Hence this paper analyzed the issues and nuances
attached to the protection of the rights of the individuals and their violation around the world.
13 Snapp, Shannon D., Stephen T. Russell, Mariella Arredondo, and Russell Skiba. "A right to disclose: LGBTQ
youth representation in data, science, and policy." In Advances in child development and behavior, vol. 50, pp. 135-
159. JAI, 2016.

7LGBTQ AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
Bibliography
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Smith, Miriam, Marla Brettschneider, Susan Burgess, and Christine Keating. "Homonationalism
and the Comparative Politics of LGBTQ Rights." LGBTQ Politics: A Critical Reader(2017):
458-476.
Gallo-Silver, Les, David Bimbi, and Michael Rembis. "Reclaiming the sexual rights of LGBTQ
people with attendant care dependent mobility impairments." In Disabling Domesticity, pp. 195-
213. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2017.
"“You Don’T Want Second Best” | Anti-LGBT Discrimination In US Health Care".
2019. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/07/23/you-dont-want-second-
best/anti-lgbt-discrimination-us-health-care.
"LGBT Rights". 2019. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/topic/lgbt-rights
De Santis, Joseph P., Shayne D. Hauglum, Diego A. Deleon, Elias Provencio-Vasquez, and
Allan E. Rodriguez. 2016. "HIV Risk Perception, HIV Knowledge, And Sexual Risk Behaviors
Among Transgender Women In South Florida". Public Health Nursing 34 (3): 210-218.
doi:10.1111/phn.12309.

8LGBTQ AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES
"No Support | Russia’S “Gay Propaganda” Law Imperils LGBT Youth". 2019. Human Rights
Watch. https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/12/11/no-support/russias-gay-propaganda-law-imperils-
lgbt-youth
Jones, Owen. "Putting LGBTQ people back on the canvas of history." The Lancet 390, no. 10092
(2017): 352-353.
Goldberg-Hiller, Jonathan. 2017. "Esthetics And Methods In The Study Of Sexual
Rights". Social & Legal Studies 26 (6): 757-775. doi:10.1177/0964663917727343.
Morris, Martin, and Blake Hawkins. "Towards a new specialization in health librarianship:
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des bibliothèques de la santé du Canada 37, no. 1 (2016).
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& Legal Studies (2019): 0964663918822150.
Snapp, Shannon D., Stephen T. Russell, Mariella Arredondo, and Russell Skiba. "A right to
disclose: LGBTQ youth representation in data, science, and policy." In Advances in child
development and behavior, vol. 50, pp. 135-159. JAI, 2016.
Stone, Amy L. "The Impact of Anti‐Gay Politics on the LGBTQ Movement." Sociology
Compass 10, no. 6 (2016): 459-467.