Love of freedom, freedom to love

Theme of World Outgames and Human Rights Conference in Copenhagen

Guest Commentary by

James Cavalluzzo
Community Social Services Component Chair
B C Government and Services Employees Union (BCGEU/NUPGE)

Over 5,000 thousand athletes, artists and activists from 92 countries converged on Copenhagen, Denmark at the end of July for the World Outgames, an international event celebrating sports, culture and human rights under the banner ‘Love of freedom, freedom to love’. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Canadians were conspicuous for our numbers and enthusiasm given that Montreal hosted the very first World Outgames in 2006.

In addition to the cultural programmes and world class sporting competitions in 38 disciplines, an international conference on LGBT human rights brought together academics, community activists, trade unionists, political leaders and policy makers. Since Montreal, the conference has incorporated the Workers Out! thematic stream, building on previous independent conferences held in Sydney in 2002 and Amsterdam in 1998.

Trade unionists continued to lead in the struggle for equality rights, with former MP and current BCGEU staff member Svend Robinson, representing Public Services International (PSI), and Rebecca Sevilla of Educational International (EI) serving as conference co-presidents. PSI and EI, which have co-operated extensively on LGBT issues, held a joint caucus of delegates from affiliated unions. LO, the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions, was a major sponsor of the conference and held a reception for trade unionists and allies at their Copenhagen head office.

Along with Svend, Sussanne Skidmore from the BCGEU and myself, the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) was also represented by Judy Robertson and Wade Stevenson from the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE).

NUPGE also sponsored an information booth at the IT University, one of the conference venues. NUPGE’s colourful posters and excellent resource materials were a huge hit among delegates and this was an opportunity to ‘connect the dots’ by promoting our ‘Labour rights are human rights’ campaign.

High profile speakers like UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay were unequivocal in stating that LGBT equality was a central concern of the international movement for human rights. Various speakers also detailed how the European Union was working to curb homophobia and discrimination in several of its newer member states like Lithuania and setting a test of progress on LGBT rights as a condition of entry for aspiring members like Serbia.

Speakers from the global south shared both stories of struggle and triumph. Sunil Babu Pant, the first openly gay member of Nepal’s parliament, outlined the brief history of grassroots organizing and coalition building which led to Nepal’s Supreme Court extending equal protection to LGBT people in 2007. At the end of June, the Delhi High Court decriminalized gay sexuality in India in a landmark and eloquent ruling. These victories, however, are in stark contrast to developments in Africa where Uganda and several other countries are in the process of re-criminalizing gay sexuality.

Indeed, homosexuality remains illegal in eighty countries around the world and five of these punish homosexual acts with death. Violence against transgender and intersexed persons in every country, north and south, continues to be a shocking reality often ignored by police and governments.

Over 100 workshops spanned nine thematic streams from education, health and sport to family and relationships and, of course, trade unions and work. OPSEU members Judy Robertson and Wade Stevenson conducted a workshop on ’Bending the binary: practising gender expression in the workplace’. Other sessions examined grassroots organizing among lesbians in China, fighting homophobia and bullying in schools and the Yogyakarta Principles, a statement on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity.

In collaboration with the Danish Institute of Human Rights (www.humanrights.dk), the conference launched the Copenhagen Catalogue of Good Practices, a collection of 24 cases from around the globe of good and inspiring measures for the protection of LGBT rights. This builds on the Declaration of Montreal, an articulation of the demands for equality for all LGBT people around the world, initiated at the previous conference in 2006.

This amazing, wonderful event was sadly bookended by two acts of violence which harshly reveal just how much work remains in the fight for human rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

As the World Outgames spectacular opening ceremony wound down outside Copenhagen’s Radhus, three athletic competitors were gay-bashed - in the heart of a very welcoming capital city of a tolerant and liberal nation. More disturbingly, as the World Outgames drew to a close and Copenhagen’s Pride parade made its’ way through the city’s neat streets, a suspected religious extremist entered a community centre hosting a meeting of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in Tel Aviv, Israel and opened fire, killing two people and critically injuring many more.

The struggle continues.

 James Cavalluzzo is the chairperson of the Community Social Services component of the British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union. He lives, works and loves in Victoria, BC.

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE