Orientations and Identities: Sexuality and Human Rights on the Global Stage

Conference on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI), coordinated by the USC Program on Global Health and Human Rights.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014


 

ABOUT THE EVENT

Despite recent and well-publicized advances, as well as persistent abuses, human rights related to sexual orientation and gender identity ("SOGI," in UN parlance) are neither fully protected under international human rights law nor codified by many states around the world. At the United Nations, conservative diplomats work against the protection of sexual rights and push for the prioritization of the "traditional family." Meanwhile, the advancement of equality rights based on SOGI have become a foreign policy objective of powerful donor states, at times eliciting high-profile backlash from recipient states. These recent developments together with national political strife in countries like Russia, Uganda, and Jamaica indicate that SOGI-related rights loom as one of the central issues of our time.

This conference aims to examine how best to respond to political divisions concerning SOGI-related health and rights, by bringing together leading scholars and practitioners working at the intersection of sexuality, health, human rights, international relations, and development.

The conference consists of an invite-only part, held at USC, and a public event, a panel discussion entitled "Sexuality and Human Rights on the Global Stage" at the West Hollywood Library on Wednesday, May 28, 2014 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm.

The program will be moderated by John Heilman, Mayor Pro Tempore of the City of West Hollywood. A "Call to Action Dessert Reception" will be held immediately afterward from 9:00 - 10:00 pm. 

This event is part of the City of West Hollywood's Human Rights Speakers Series and will be a thought-provoking conversation about the global fight for human rights regarding sexual orientation and gender identity.


For more information about the public panel discussion and to see the list of participants, please click here.

Photo credit: © 2013 Certo Xornal. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 License.

Sponsor(s): Burkle Center for International Relations, International Human Rights Program at UCLA School of Law, Health and Human Rights Law Project; USC Keck School of Medicine; La Trobe University, Australia; Occidental College; The Williams Institute; UCI School of Law; and the City of West Hollywood.