Dear  ,

From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and Foggy Bottom to Federal Triangle, GLIFAA is a large and significant organization.  Representing LGBT personnel of U.S. foreign affairs agencies, we have seen great progress in recent years.  The tireless efforts of recent presidents Bob Gilchrist and Michelle Schohn and of recent boards and individual GLIFAA members alike have resulted in more equal benefits for same-sex partners of those in the Foreign Service, increased visibility and regard within our agencies, a recognition of the rights of transgender employees, and support from the highest levels of the Administration.  These past couple years have been invigorating.

 

Not all, however, are experiencing this progress.  Those with partners who are not U.S. citizens still cannot extend their benefits.  Many posts around the world are still unsupportive of LGBT personnel.  And those who are not in the Foreign Service have seen little change at all in terms of benefits.  All of us still suffer from discrimination at the hands of Congress.  We still have much to do in our effort to achieve equality in the workplace, and we will continue to build on the progress of recent years.

 

GLIFAA is an organization not just of advocacy, but one of community.  Some of the most important assets of our organization are the energy, the counsel, and the opportunities we share with one another.  Our community must be strong if we are to succeed in our mission.  To that end, we must constantly nurture and expand our membership.  We are Foreign Service, Civil Service, contractors, and political appointees.  We are every race, creed, and gender.  We must promote and value our diversity.  At every event - every speech, happy hour, workshop, and dinner -our full diversity must be represented and involved.

 

For anyone who missed it, check out GLIFAA's 2010 Pride Celebration, held at the State Department with Secretary Hillary Clinton and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah.  It was a tremendously moving event with nearly every seat filled.

 

As we move forward, please send in your ideas and suggestions and let me know how I or any member of the board can be of assistance - we are here first and foremost to serve our members.

 

All the best,

 

-Jon

 

Dear ,

 

The GLIFAA board is working very hard to continue recent ground-breaking progress.  However, our remaining issues cannot be resolved by the board alone - they require the efforts of GLIFAA members.  Regardless of your location and the amount of time you can devote to GLIFAA, there is a way for you to help ensure that all employees of federal affairs agencies have equal rights and protections.
 
Policy Initiatives
This year, our plan is to build on recent successes and focus on the following goals:

 

For more information on how you can get involved in policy initiatives, please e-mail Policy Director Anthony Cotton. 
 
Legislative Advocacy:

GLIFAA members have a vested interest in ensuring that Congress passes the Domestic Partnerships Benefits & Obligations Act (DPBO) and the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) / Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR).  DPBO would allow the SSDPs of LGBT federal employees access to health/life insurance, pensions, and other benefits enjoyed by married heterosexual federal employees.  UAFA/CIR would allow bi-national LGBT couples to live together without the fear of forced separation.
 
For more information on how you can get involved in legislative advocacy, please e-mail Congressional Liaison Karl Miller.

 

 

 

 

Jon Tollefson. President
Selim Ariturk, Vice President
John Wiecking, Treasurer/Secretary
Ashton Giese, Director of Communications
Anthony Cotton, Director of Policy
Michelle Schohn, Spokesperson
Dennis Cheng, Director of Outreach and Social Engagement
Mira Patel, Coordinator for Women and People of Color
Karl Miller, Coordinator for Legislative Issues
Anna McCrerey, Coordinator for Transgender issues

 

Ryan Derni, GLIFAA Representative to Peace Corps
Kendra Phillips, Policy Committee Advisor
Jeff D Miller, Policy Liaison for Human Resources Issues
Martin Dixon, GLIFAA Liaison from World Bank
Matt Paschke, Webmaster

During the summer months, food banks throughout D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia experience an overwhelming demand for basic food necessities.
Did you know that according to the Capital Area Food Bank:

The Department of State is participating in the OPM-sponsored interagency Feds Feed Families National Capital Area food drive from June 14 to July 23. A June 11 Department Notice provides further information, including websites and guidelines for this effort. We encourage your affinity group to join us in not only
finding ways to contribute to this worthwhile endeavor but also in helping us promote the cause throughout the Department. You can credit the amount you raise in pounds to your group by submitting the weight of your contributions to FEDS Feed Families@state.gov.
I appreciate your participation in this project.

Director Gen al of the Foreign Service
and Director of Human Resources

 

Join GLIFAA at our regularly scheduled monthly happy hour, every second Tuesday of the month at Nellie's.
 
All are welcome!

Mike Pignatelllo, GLIFAA Post Rep, Embassy Manila

US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. is flanked by (from left) US embassy public affairs counselor Richard Nelson, gay advocate Melo Esguerra, TV host Boy Abunda and Pinky Sabinosa-Nelson at the embassy's first gay pride celebration in Manila.

Embassy Manila, under the initiative of our GLIFAA group, hosted a
successful Gay Pride Month reception on June 3 at the home of the
Public Affairs Counselor.  We had over 100 guests from Philippine
media, arts, politics, business, civil society, law enforcement,
fashion, and academia at this official Embassy reception - which may have been the first-ever such event held by a foreign mission in the Philippines.  We invited all the section/agency heads at the Mission (from Peace Corps to USAID to DOD offices) to attend, and even asked section chiefs to let us know if we should invite particular LES.  It turns out that some LES who had been too scared to come out of the closet here at the Embassy were feeling encouraged by this event and decided to attend.

Ambassador Harry Thomas attended and delivered wonderful remarks. In a side comment to the Mission personnel, he said he hoped he could help make the Embassy a more welcoming place for LGBT persons.  (In fact, he was far more progressive than the talking points I had drafted for him!)  I also gave brief remarks, describing GLIFAA's advocacy, thanking the reception's hosts, and also asking everyone present to applaud Ambassador Harry Thomas for his efforts in the last few years to help us obtain equality for LGBT persons at the State Department. (I said that "Ambassador Thomas, as Director General of the Foreign Service, helped lay the groundwork for the advancements in equality we've made in the past year and a half, and we are very grateful for his efforts.")  Before digging into the buffet, we also showed  a 2-minute clip of the documentary "Before Stonewall" to help our Filipino guests understand the origins of the gay rights movement in the U.S. We distributed President Obama's pride month proclamation at the
event.  The event was so well-received and attended that I suspect
Amb. Thomas will want to host a bigger event next year at his
residence.

This was a full-on GLIFAA and Public Affairs Section event, made
possible with the financial support of the Office of the Chief of
Mission, USAID, POL, ECON, CON, and FCS.  I called up Embassy sections and asked them if they would be willing to donate some money for the reception, and had surprisingly good response. The OCM covered almost half of the $2000 cost for the event.  The PAS Counselor's wife had a real knack for decorating their house for the event: pink tableclothes, pink flowers, and she even dyed the lumpia (Philppine spring rolls) the color pink!

We happened to have the Pacific Islands Regional Conference here at Embassy Manila this week, and I had a chance to talk to our gay
Ambassador to New Zealand, Amb. Huebner, about our event, and told him it was extremely well received.

Please see the article below for the full story - it appeared on Page
13 of the main news section of one of the country's two major dailies, the Philippine Star.  We had at least one other major news article, and the event was even mentioned on a major TV talk show the same evening by Boy Abunda, a gay celebrity (and friend of the PAS Counselor) who attended the reception.

Contact Mike if you would like to do a similar event at your Embassy -- there is still time this summer; or for Coming Out Day in October!

International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Campaign 

 

United Nations Grants Official Status to US-Based International LGBT Rights Group
A victory against homophobic silencing of civil society
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(July 19, 2001) On July 19, 2010, the full United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) voted in favor of a US-led resolution to grant the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) consultative status. IGLHRC is only the tenth organization working primarily for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) human rights to gain such status at the United Nations.

"Today's decision is an affirmation that the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people have a place at the United Nations as part of a vital civil society community," said Cary Alan Johnson, IGLHRC Executive Director. "The clear message here is that these voices should not be silenced and that human rights cannot be denied on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity."

The resolution passed with 23 in favor, 13 against, 13 abstentions and 5 absences.  See votes below.

This victory is particularly significant, coming as it does after a prolonged 3-year application process in the sub-committee that makes initial recommendations on status. Despite full compliance with all procedures IGLHRC faced deferrals, homophobic questioning, and procedural roadblocks in the ECOSOC NGO Committee.

Today's decision overturned a "no-action" vote in the NGO-committee that threatened to establish a dangerous precedent and the possibility of organizations deemed controversial being continuously denied the opportunity to have their application put to a vote even after undergoing the required review.

The vote also signals a recognition of the important role of a diverse and active civil society at the UN. In support of progress on IGLHRC's application, a group of over 200 NGOs from 59 countries endorsed a letterto all UN Member States, demanding fair and non-discriminatory treatment and supporting IGLHRC's goal of amplifying LGBT voices in the international arena.

"As human rights defenders and LGBT people living in countries where homophobic discrimination is a daily reality, we celebrate the accreditation of IGLHRC at the UN," said Frank Mugisha, Chairperson of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), one of 13 NGOs from Uganda to publicly call for IGLHRC to be accredited. "IGLHRC's access to the UN means that we too will have greater access to international human-rights mechanisms that can prove invaluable to LGBT people's lives."

The government of the United States stood strongly behind IGLHRC's application, calling for a vote in both the NGO Committee and ECOSOC. Ambassador Susan Rice, US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, publicly supported IGLHRC's application. Additionally, 14 members of the US House of Representatives and 4 Senators sent letters of support for IGLHRC's application to all UN Member States. Among them were Senator John Kerry, Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Congressman Howard Berman, Chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

The victory continues the upward trajectory for LGBT rights at the UN. It allows IGLHRC to participate in a more formal way through attending meetings, submitting statements and collaborating with the UN and governments in the international human-rights arena.
"We celebrate this decision," stated Toni Reis, president of the Brazilian LGBT group, Associação Brasileira de Lésbicas, Gays, Bissexuais, Travestis e Transexuais (ABGLT) - that in 2009 was the last LGBT organization to receive status. "It is crucial that LGBT NGOs have the opportunity to participate in the UN human rights debate - though in future, organizations should receive full and fair reviews before the NGO Committee itself."

Despite the limited opportunities offered to non-accredited NGOs, IGLHRC has a long history of advocating at the UN for the rights of all people, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. The organization advocated for sexual rights to be included in the official discussions at the 1995 UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing; spoke at the first UN General Assembly meeting on HIV and AIDS in 2001; and in recent years has been part of a collaboration between NGOs and supportive States that resulted in the groundbreaking 2008 UNGA Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, signed by 67 UN Member States.

The votes on this resolution granting IGLHRC special consultative status were as follows:

Vote For - 23
Argentina
Australia
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Guatemala
Italy
Japan
Liechtenstein
Malta
Norway
Peru
Poland
Rep. of Korea
Slovenia
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay

Votes Against - 13
Bangladesh
China
Comoros
Egypt
Malaysia
Morocco
Namibia
Niger
Pakistan
Russian Fed.
Saudi Arabia
Venezuela
Zambia

Abstaining - 13
Bahamas
Cote D'Ivoire
Ghana
India
Mauritius
Mongolia
Mozambique
Philippines
Rep. of Moldova
Rwanda
Saint Kitts & Nevis
Turkey
Ukraine

Absent - 5
Cameroon
Congo
Guinea-Bissau
Iraq
Saint Lucia

 

 Contact:
Sara Perle, New York: +1 212-430-6015, sperle@iglhrc.org (English/Italian)
Jessica Stern, New York: +1 212-430-6014, jstern@iglhrc.org (English)
Cary Alan Johnson, Vienna: + 1 347-515-0330, cjohnson@iglhrc.org (English/French)
Marcelo Ferreyra, Buenos Aires: +54 11-4665-7527, mferreyra@iglhrc.org (Spanish/English)