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Lesbians,
Human Rights and Organizing on Gender within AI and its LGBT Network
Gay and Bisexual Issues
Women's sexual autonomy cannot be separated from the material conditions
of their lives. Violence and harassment are often targeted toward women
because of their sexuality, particularly in terms of their physical attributions
(for instance, looking "too masculine"), or affirmative claims of lesbian
identity. Women also suffer adverse discrimination because they challenge
gender norms or male dominance within their societies.
Much international women's rights organizing has provided a foundation
for organizing about sexual orientation and sexual identity -- both for
lesbians and gay men. But much human rights organizing has not taken account
the specific obstacles women and lesbians face when pursuing their claims
to rights. It is also true that, for various reasons, lesbians' experiences
of human rights violations are sometimes different and less visible than
gay men's experiences of violations. An example here might be the fact
that women can't access legal systems to seek justice in the same way
some men can, therefore women's experiences of certain violations might
be rendered invisible. The following thematic points are interconnected
and are some of the more relevant ones to keep in mind in our AI organizing:
On Discrimination: Discrimination and the fear of violence based on the
attribution of sexual behaviour, sexual identity and sexual orientation
affects all aspects of women's lives and presents a wide range of obstacles
to their political participation and their role in development. The capacity
of women who resist gender norms to participate in the political, social,
and cultural life of their communities is obstructed by pervasive hostility
and the well-founded fear of being the object of discrimination or violence
because of the potential attribution of (homo)sexual orientation. For
example, in Croatia, one of the most renowned women's human rights groups
has been the target of a newspaper-based campaign condemning its participation
in public debates on legislation. In this campaign, allegations have been
made that the group is comprised of all "unnatural women without children,
lesbians and women in league with the Serbian aggressors." The attack
is waged through using the allegation of "lesbianism" as a strategy to
silence women's participation in community and public life. Such attacks
are commonly connected with physical threats toward women identified as
lesbians and are perpetated with the related assumption (unfortunately
true far too often) that the government will not exercise its powers to
protect these women.
On impunity and women's claim to human rights: Violence, harassment and
other adverse discriminatory treatment of women often go unaddressed by
state authorities. As a result, state and non-state actors often direct
violations toward women with the assumption that they will not be punished.
In reality, often they are not. A related idea is that women may be less
likely than men to assert their rights to protection from violence, harassment
and discrimination because they feel their claims will not be taken seriously
by authorities. Lesbians may be especially likely targets, and especially
likely not pursue their rights by calling attention to themselves or their
sexual identity.
On regulating women's sexuality: Women's sexuality is strictly regulated
in many cultures (in forced marriages, for instance), so women may have
fewer opportunities than men to experience same-sex sexuality. The orthodox
acceptance of women's sexuality only within certain relationships, such
as in marriage and the family, has had adverse effects on women's freedom
from violence in particular, and women's wider range of rights, as well.
The community regulates women's sexuality and punishes transgressors (lesbians,
women who appear "too masculine", women who challenge male dominance,
etc.). Women who are "unprotected" by a marriage to a man are often marginalized
in their community and are consequently the targets of violence and rape.
Lack of choice with regard to lifestyle (or sexual identity in particular)
is closely linked to women's lack of economic autonomy. The UN Special
Rapporteur on Violence Against Women has claimed that "[for women] to
strive to live and work outside the watchful gaze of the family and community
is to risk becoming a target for male violent behaviour".
On social/ identity factors: The discrimination lesbians face and the
human rights violations they experience - as well as their inability to
seek protection and redress - is integrally connected not only to the
fact of their being female, but also to their race, ethnicity, cultural
and national origin, class, etc. Work on violence against women as a human
rights violation has revealed the deep extent to which women's sexualized
bodies so often become the target of human rights abuses. For instance,
in US prisons, women of colour who either are lesbians, or who are accused
of being lesbians, might be singled out for harassment or violence at
the hands of prison guards both because of their race and because of attitudes
about their real or perceived sexuality.
On distinctions between "the public and the private": Because women often
have a different relationship to the family and to "the home", and certainly
to public sexuality, lesbians are less likely than gay men to have a public
presence that could lead to their being adopted as AI POCs. In AI's LGBT
work, this issue is particularly important because often it is men who
are having sex with men in a public setting who might be arrested and
become AI prisoners of conscience. And because women have less access
to "private" space (or access to "privacy"), there is different range
of obstacles to their same sexual expression or exploration. It is also
for these reasons, among others, that lesbians may have less access to
legal recourse in certain situation than men.
On relationships to "family": Lesbians, like other women, have directly
experienced violations in so-called private and family life. There are
numerous documented cases of young lesbians in particular being beaten,
raped and otherwise attacked by family members - to punish, to break their
spirit, to make it clear that their minds, bodies and souls are not free.
For example, Tina Machida, a lesbian in Zimbabwe's GALZ group, has courageously
discussed the physical and emotional abuse she has suffered at the hands
of family members because of her claiming the identity of "lesbian". In
Tina's case, her parents arranged a marriage and forced Tina to live with
a man they knew was consistently raping her. Tina escaped by running away
and leaving the village where she had grown up and where her family lived.
In addition to force marriage, other forms of family violence lesbians
face include forced pregnancy, force medical "treatment" and psychiatric
incarceration.
On asylum: Establishing asylum claims for lesbians is especially complicated.
Since women experience persecution in myriad ways, it may be impossible
to untangle what is "simply" gender-related, and what is "only" connected
to sexual identity. Lesbians who flee their countries of origin because
of persecution related to their sexuality are unlikely to disclose their
sexual orientation to immigration officials upon entering another country
because, given their experience, they often distrust government agents
as well as fear reprisals targeted at their families. While all women
are at risk in asylum processes, lesbians may suffer particular discrimination
at borders for challenging gender identity.
Organizing with Amnesty:
Keep talking about these issues! Always bring up ideas related to gender
in your public speaking, workshop development, in your AI writing, etc.
Discuss these topics cited in your work.
Outreach to lesbian/ women's groups! Plan presentations to or bring speakers
from women's group. Co-sponsor events, seek committee members, etc.
Make sure your steering committees have women! And ensure that all projects
have as equal participation as possible. If you're forming a committee
or bringing new people on, specifically recruit women who will bring a
range of ideas and experiences.
Ensure women are visible in your meetings! Have women as well as men chair
committees and meetings.
Seek information for lesbian POC cases in AI! Ensure that actions pertain
to lesbians as well as gay men (and transgender and bisexual women).
Push AI to include information on lesbians in its work on gender, and
in its work on anything related to LGBT experience.
Link with AI work on women and human rights! Build partnerships with AI
activists doing work in the women's network, or on women's human rights
violations generally.
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