2013-05-25T17:13:32-04:00 Jasmine O Connor http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=jasmine-o-connor Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Jasmine O Connor Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2828853 2013-03-07T19:00:00-05:00 2013-05-07T05:12:01-04:00

Jasmine O Connor http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jasmine-o-connor/
We receive lower pay than men for equivalent work. We are more likely than men to be victims of domestic violence. Discrimination, abuse and violence are problems for women worldwide, regardless of sexual orientation, but for the roughly 210million lesbians and bisexual women worldwide the challenges can be all the more acute.

Every day, lesbians and bisexual women become victims of forced marriage, forced impregnation, honour killings and other violent attempts to either change their sexual orientation or punish them for it. Many feel unable to seek justice, fearing that in doing so they may disclose their sexual orientation, putting themselves at risk of reprisals or even prosecution.

Governments around the world rightly seek to address wider gender inequality and discrimination, but often their efforts to tackle inequality fail to materially address the specific needs of lesbians and bisexual women. There are, for example, many vital development programmes working to ensure that girls worldwide can access and complete education.

But for lesbians and bisexual girls in countries where pupils can be legitimately excluded from school simply because of their sexual orientation, these programmes may have limited benefit. And efforts to tackle the poverty of women and girls worldwide by helping them to achieve and maintain employment and financial independence are undermined in the many countries where women can be denied employment or sacked simply because they are lesbian or bisexual.

At Stonewall we know that the fight for equality for lesbians and bisexual women worldwide will only be effective if it is an integral part of the wider movement to achieve full equality for women and girls. But for this to be the case those working towards gender equality worldwide - including development agencies, development NGOs and international institutions - must understand and respond to the specific needs and threats to lesbians and bisexual women and girls.

Some countries will mark International Women's Day with a public holiday and celebrations. It's a sad truth that in many of those countries lesbians and bisexual women won't be able to take part in the festivities openly. But they they do have a voice.

At the ongoing 57th meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women lesbians and bisexual women will be promoting awareness of their concerns and challenges. We hope the Commission will be listening.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1608838 2012-06-19T19:00:00-04:00 2012-08-19T05:12:08-04:00

Jasmine O Connor http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jasmine-o-connor/
In 1991 Ukraine became the first post-Soviet nation to make same homosexuality legal, with an equal age of consent for all. (In this respect it was ahead of Britain, where the age of consent was not equalised until 2001.) But this is where equality for gay people in Ukraine ends. There are no laws there to protect gay people from discrimination, and legal recognition of same sex partnerships is non-existent. In 2012, the organisers of gay pride in Ukraine were forced to cancel the event to avoid attacks from violent anti-gay groups. Three of the gay pride organisers were attacked and hospitalised.

This violence, and Ukraine's apparent lack of commitment to human rights for its gay population, has attracted EU attention. On 24 May the EU called on the Ukraine to enforce rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression without discrimination. Ongoing EU-Ukraine dialogue represents the early steps of Ukraine's journey towards EU membership, the number one priority of Ukraine's President Victor Yanukovych.

Given Yanukovych's personal and political commitment to EU candidacy, it would be reasonable to expect a robust response from his authorities. It might even be reasonable to expect him to be focused on protecting sexual minorities in law. Instead two bills are currently before the parliament which threaten to push Ukraine's gay population back into an iron closet - and President Yanukovych has not spoken up in opposition.

The first bill, proposed by six MPs (including some from the president's own party) would make it illegal to produce or publish any material promoting homosexuality. The second bill provides a list of outlawed activities include parades, meetings and school lessons which offer a positive view on homosexuality. According to the explanatory note the law is designed to protect public order and morality. It claims homosexuality is a threat to national security because "it leads to epidemic levels of AIDS/HIV, destroys the institution of the family and can cause a demographic crisis."

If the bills become law, negative voices about same sex relationships will be the only ones heard in public. Homophobic football chants will become one of the few ways in which children learn about gay people.

Hopefully our government can share some history lessons with Ukrainian politicians as a part of the EU's human rights dialogue. In Britain a similar law to that proposed in Ukraine, Section 28, left a generation growing up in a vacuum of information about sexual orientation. Until it was repealed in 2003, Section 28 curbed discussion about sexual orientation, leaving schools unable to protect children from homophobic bullying in the playground. And at a time when HIV and Aids cut thousands of young men down in their prime, Section 28 made it harder for those most at risk to receive information to help them make informed choices.

The proposed Ukrainian laws go much further than the malicious Section 28. If they are passed, many more negative outcomes will need to be added to the above list - not least a politically and economically difficult between Ukraine and the EU. This is a relationship the people of Ukraine can ill afford. It's fitting that Stonewall, which was set up to fight Section 28 in Britain, today stands with Ukraine's fledgling gay equality campaigners to support their fight against discrimination.

Nobody knows who will win Euro 2012. Nobody knows if Ukraine's legislature will pass the bills into law. But history does tell us that nobody will really win if they do.]]>