- Conference
- 2024 National LGBT+ Conference
- Date
- 17 July 2024
- Decision
- Carried
Conference welcomes the progress made in acknowledging that LGBT+ rights are human rights, including labour rights, with more countries adopting laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
However, even where legislation is in place, many LGBT+ workers face discrimination. For transgender and non–binary people, the picture is particularly bleak. Research shows they experience the most severe forms of workplace discrimination including being excluded from the formal labour market.
Throughout much of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Middle East and some parts of Europe, homosexual acts are illegal, sometimes with severe punishments including death. Countries with shocking records on LGBT+ rights often have labour movements that are under-developed.
The five core areas that UNISON’s national executive council (NEC) international committee works on: Palestine, Colombia, Turkey, business of human rights and public services in the Global South all have significant failings regarding the protection of LGBT+ people.
Despite constitutional protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, LGBT+ people in Colombia face high levels of violence and discrimination. In April 2024 a statement at the United Nations Security Council Meeting on Colombia claimed the Victims’ Unit registry reported 6,000 crimes committed against LGBTQ (Q=Queer) people during the armed conflict. Colombia remains one of the deadliest countries in the world for human rights defenders.
Across Africa, LGBT+ people find themselves facing uphill challenges for their legal and social rights. In 31 countries consensual same-sex relations is criminalised. In Uganda, the situation has deteriorated with the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Act. Consensual same-sex was already illegal but now arbitrary arrests and detentions have escalated – being oneself is a criminal offence which could result in the death penalty. Many leaders frame anti-LGBT+ laws as a necessary defence against the imposition of foreign values. In South Africa, LGBT+ people, mainly lesbian and transgender men in townships, are frequently targets of sexual assault and murder.
Istanbul Pride events in Turkey are disrupted by police, LGBT+ people randomly arrested and LGBT+ group events regularly banned.
Anti-LGBT+ rhetoric is part of right-wing strategies that weaponises stigma against sexual and gender minorities to align with the values of religious conservative voters. In many cases, anti-LGBT+ sentiment is being exported from the West through networks of activists, politicians, religious leaders and donors with ties to United States of America (USA) right wing organisations.
LGBT+ people are frequently subjected to violence, arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention, imprisonment and torture. This forces many LGBT+ workers to conceal their sexual orientation or gender identity causing anxiety and loss of productivity. In the USA 29 states fail to protect workers from sexual orientation discrimination, and 32 states fail to protect from gender identity discrimination. LGBT+ workers are forced to gravitate towards more tolerant industries, limiting their employment options and leading to occupational segregation.
Conference calls on the national LGBT+ committee to continue to work with the national executive council international committee to promote global trade union initiatives for LGBT+ equality, including seeking opportunities to utilise UNISON’s international development fund.