LGBT rights at the United Nations

Discussions of LGBT rights at the United Nations have included resolutions and joint statements in the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). 

Since its founding in 1945, the United Nations political bodies had not discussed LGBT rights (regarding equality regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity) until September 1995.  In the negotiations on the Draft of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, sexual orientation became a topic of debate at the 4th World Conference on Women.Shelagh Day (1996) "Women's Sexual Autonomy: Universality, Sexual Rights and Sexual Orientation at the Beijing Conference". Canadian Women's Studies / Les Cahiers de la Femme, Vol. 16, Number 3. Available at: http://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/viewFile/12095/11178 and http://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/issue/view/538/showTocFrancoise Girard (2004) "United Nations: Negotiation Sexual Rights and Sexual Orientation at the UN", in Richard Parker, Rosalind Petchesky and Robert Sember (Eds.) Sex Politics: From the Frontlines, pp. 311-358. Sexuality Policy Watch. Book available at: http://www.sxpolitics.org/frontlines/book/index.php, Chapter available at: http://www.sxpolitics.org/frontlines/book/pdf/capitulo9_united_nations.pdf  These discussions on "sexual orientation" can not be found in the text of the meetings.  Nevertheless, it was the first time governments had an explicit opinion in favour or against the inclusion and recognition of sexual orientation. Beverley Palesa Ditsie became the first openly lesbian person to address the United Nations regarding LGBT issues, calling for States to adopt resolutions that recognized sexual diversity. 

 References 

 Related Page 
LGBT
Yogyakarta Principles

Category:United Nations
Category:Human rights