Brown Bag Lunch Series

Speaker: Marianne Mollmann, Director of Programs at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

Human rights are for everyone, regardless of our sexual orientation or gender identity. Or at least that is the theory. Over the past 20 years, United Nations treaty-monitoring bodies have consistently recommended the repeal of laws that discriminate against persons because of real or perceived sexual orientation of gender identity, and most UN agencies integrate–at least to some extend–concern for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) persons into their work. Progress has been slower in the political spaces of the United Nations: the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, the Commission on the Status of Women, and others. Marianne Mollmann, Director of Programs at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, will highlight some recent examples of what happens when issues related to sexual orientation or gender identity are brought up in these spaces: how to talk about these issues so more people can ‘hear’ them, and the trade-offs some states are willing to make to exclude LGBT persons from universal protections.

Kosher pizza will be served.

Brown Bag Lunch Series