Forty-three years ago, patrons and supporters of the
Stonewall Inn, a now famous bar in New York City, resisted police harassment
that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) community. This
resistance gave birth to the LGBT rights movement in America. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the
events of June 1969 at the Stonewall Inn and commit ourselves to achieving
equal justice under law for LGBT people both in the United States and around
the world.
Last year President Obama issued a proclamation declaring
that LGBT rights are human rights and declared their protection a U.S. foreign
policy priority. Secretary of State
Clinton echoed the president’s remarks stating that, “The Obama Administration
defends the human rights of LGBT people as part of our comprehensive human
rights policy and as a priority of our foreign policy.” This year both the President and Secretary
Clinton reiterated their messages calling for the rights of LGBT people to be
respected universally. It is in this
spirit that I would like to address the situation facing the LGBT community in
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
I would like to commend the work carried out by committed local
activists. I have met some of them, and
they are very impressive members of your community. These brave young people all too often are
ignored, ridiculed, and subjected to threats of physical violence. There is no public gathering associated with
LGBT Pride Month in Bosnia and Herzegovina while neighbor countries have held
public exhibitions for a number of years, though not without serious threats. I look forward to the day when it will be
possible for local activists to stage a public Pride event.
Why are marches, exhibitions or other events important for
LGBT Pride? These events allow the LGBT
community, which exists largely out of public view due to fear of ridicule or
reprisal, to let society know that they exist and that they are entitled to
equal treatment and protection in the communities where they live. We should not only to look back and note how
far the quest for equal rights for LGBT people has come in forty-three years
but also look forward, identify the challenges the LGBT community faces and let
the rest of society know that the LGBT population is here, and it is here to
stay.
Dedicated activists are improving the lives of LGBT people
in Bosnia and Herzegovina every day, but remarkable progress will begin when
society as a whole begins to accept LGBT people for who they are – people, who
deserve to be treated just like you and me.
Secretary Clinton recently remarked that, “In the United States and
around the world, progress is being made.
The tireless advocacy of generations is bending the arc of history. Barriers are being torn down, discriminatory
laws repealed, and millions are now able to live more freely and participate in
the future of their communities and countries.”
It is time that these barriers come down in Bosnia and Herzegovina too
and that local LGBT people take their rightful place, openly, as members of
their communities.
Happy Pride.
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