U.S. sees LGBTQ rights progress, but equality is still lacking

• “Equality is not yet within reach,” says independent U.N. expert on sexual orientation and gender identity.
• Victor Madrigal-Borloz applauds President Joe Biden for “very powerful” executive actions.
• LGBTQ community suffers in access to health, employment, education and housing, he says.

LGBTQ people have made enormous progress over the past 50 years in the United States, but unfortunately, “equality is not yet within reach and in many cases not within sight” for LGBTQ communities, according to the independent U.N. expert on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Victor Madrigal-Borloz praised President Joe Biden for taking “extremely forceful” executive actions during his first days in office to combat prejudice and violence against the LGBTQ community, speaking at a U.N. press conference after a 10-day visit to the United States. However, he stated that a coordinated campaign of state and local activities “based on prejudice and stigma, to assault and to rollback the rights of LGBT persons” has him “very concerned.”

According to Madrigal-Borloz, the LGBTQ community experiences barriers to housing, work, education, and health care.

For instance, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people have a 2.2 times higher risk of homelessness among young adults (18 to 25), 23% of LGBTQ adults of colour don’t have health insurance, and 43% of participants in a recent study said they had experienced at least one act of discrimination or harassment, he said.

Lawyer and human rights activist Madrigal-Borloz from Costa Rica also expressed grave worry over the disproportionate effect of violence against the LGBTQ community.

Also Read

After an LGBTQ issue, Nebraska school officials close the newspaper

The staff of Northwest Public Schools' 54-year-old Saga newspaper was informed on...

He highlighted data from the National Crime Victimization Survey showing that, in contrast to the LGBTQ population in the United States, which he said is typically estimated at between 5% and 8%, 20.3% of hate crimes were motivated by hatred against sexual orientation or gender identity. In addition, he cited a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, which he described as “extremely worrying,” that found bisexual women experienced intimate partner violence at higher rates than other populations, with 46% reporting having been raped and 74.9% reporting being victims of sexual violence other than rape.

The United States government invited Madrigal-Borloz to travel to Washington, Birmingham, Alabama, Miami, and San Diego. She was appointed by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council. He claimed to have met with more than 70 federal, state, and local representatives, more than 100 members of civil society, and LGBTQ individuals with “lived experience.”

He emphasised that his remarks on Tuesday only represented his initial findings and that his full report, complete with recommendations, will be delivered to the Human Rights Council in June 2023.

According to Madrigal-preliminary Borloz’s assessment of her visit, the present administration is making “considerable efforts to remove systems of socioeconomic exclusion.” The risk that LGBT people will be caught in the “riptide caused by all of these initiatives at the municipal level” is likewise “considerable.”

NGOs and human rights advocates, he claimed, have discovered at least 280 local legislative proposals that, in addition to regressing LGBTQ rights, “produce a profoundly polarised narrative that exacerbates already high and frightening dangers of violence and discrimination.”

Also Read

Uganda government shuts down LGBTQ rights group

Ugandan authorities have banned a renowned LGBTQ rights organization. Sexual Minorities Uganda...