January 19th, 2012 by aswaroop
December 10, Human Rights Day Hillary Clinton stated, “LGBT Rights are Human Rights”.
On December 20, President Barack Obama gave a speech stating that he wants to promote sexual orientation/gender identity Rights globally.
We welcome this initiative from the Obama Administration which has motivated us to increase our efforts to end punitive laws that oppress people due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. We call this campaign, “ Love Beyond Borders: Equality and Acceptance For All.”
The title of this campaign truly describes the characteristics of this movement promoted by a religious based organization, The Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office, and a secular organization, GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation). We have come together to work towards a common goal – Equality and Acceptance for all. The UU-UNO is the only faith-based organization with a sexual orientation/gender identity human rights advocacy program at the United Nations. We intend to ensure that our policy makers remember the millions of LGBT/SOGI voices around the world who suffer from oppression. Often this oppression is multiplied by gender, ethnic background, economic status, age, educational level, national origin or religion. We want to ensure that children around the world are no longer bullied because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Bullying and discrimination need to stop, especially against the young. Many children are bullied for being gay long before they have any sense of their own sexuality. Enough young promising lives have been lost or ruined because of bullying. Children who suffer from bullying are either driven to self-harm or drop out of school. We also aim to ensure that all individuals around the world are no longer denied access to healthcare because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.
This kind of violence impacts people around the world. Violence prompted by hateful religious dogma has hit the headlines in countries like Nigeria, Uganda and Russia. We will not cede the world of faith to those who preach hate. We lead a growing coalition of progressive faith and secular voices, which promote the moral equality of all sexual orientations and gender identities. As a leading non-profit organization, we feel that people, gay or straight, need to come together to usher in a more tolerant, accepting and positive world. We want to inform people about both the progress and setbacks for global sexual orientation /gender identity human rights. We work closely with the United Nations system and its agencies, such as UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNDP, UNICEF, and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. To achieve these aims we are kick starting our LGBT program at United Nations. We will be hosting a campaign launch at UN Church Center, across the street from UN headquarters to declare to the world that we will fight and not give up.
We hope you will be part of this movement and help us steer our global society, and protect our children, our brothers, our sisters, and our future all over the world. Tickets are available for sale now.
January 19th, 2012 by Envoy Coordinator
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CARE ABOUT WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT?
SPREAD YOUR MESSAGE AND COMPETE TO WIN THE 2012 GREELEY AWARD
The UU-UNO invites submissions of sermons or addresses that speak to building a more just international community. The award honors the memory of Reverend Dana McLean Greeley, the first president of the Unitarian Universalist Association and a strong supporter of the United Nations. Winners receive a $1000.00 honorarium and the opportunity to deliver the winning address at the 2012 UUA General Assembly in Phoenix, AZ.
What better incentive to write a great UN Sunday sermon?
For more information visit:
Send submissions by February 1, 2012 vie email to greeleysermon@uu-uno.org. Papers highlighting the work of the UN and the UU-UNO will enjoy priority consideration. |
January 6th, 2012 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
The Peace and Justice Task Force and UU-UNO are hosting ActorCor’s Production of the Fourth Annual SAY YES!
A Concert Celebrating Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
Click HERE to see the SAY YES! video
When: 5pm. Sunday, January 15 (the weekend of MLK JR. DAY)
Where: All Souls Unitarian Church (80th and Lexington)
$10 Suggested Donation, Children and Students Free
SAY YES interweaves the diverse sacred music of three great faiths. The Chorus of Actors sings in Urdu, Arabic, Yiddish, Hebrew, Latin and English in styles from Pakistani Qawwali to English Cathedral Anthems, Shabbat Folk Music to Spirituals, Gospel and more!
January 3rd, 2012 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
MORE WARNING SIGNALS ON CLIMATE CHANGE
While governments hesitate over how to deal with the reality of global warming, the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continues at an alarming pace. Resulting weather disruptions like more frequent droughts, floods, and violent storms are already severe, and threaten to become far worse. Recent scientific findings indicate that the time window for effective action may be even shorter than we thought.
Rising temperatures are causing methane, a greenhouse gas even more powerful than carbon dioxide, to leak from the Arctic seabed and from thawing permafrost in the tundra. The New York Times has now reported on new evidence that the leakage is proceeding faster than scientists earlier believed, and that the amounts of carbon stored in the thawing permafrost are far greater than previous estimates. (“As Permafrost Thaws, Scientists Study the Risks,” New York Times, December 17, 2011, page A1) The Times quotes one climate scientist as saying the recent findings are “the fingerprint of a major disruption, and we aren’t going to be able to turn it off some day.” For the sake of our children and grandchildren, we need to initiate decisive action now.
Recommended action: Contact the White House, and leave a message that we need President Obama to take strong action on curbing greenhouse gas emissions and resisting polluters who seek to weaken environmental safeguards. Call 202-456-1111 and ask for the comment line, or send an email by going to the web page, www.whitehouse.gov, and click “Submit Questions and Comments.”
For more information, see the UU-UNO Climate Portal, www.climate.uu-uno.org, and enter “methane” in the Google search box.
December 19th, 2011 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
Hillary Clinton
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today gave an historic speech outlining LGBT rights as human rights at the UN. See, http://www.humanrights.gov/2011/12/06/human-rights-geneva/.
Presidential Memorandum
The White House issued a Presidential Memo setting out LGBT rights, specifically confirming the US government’s obligation to LGBT asylum seekers and refugees: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/12/06/presidential-memorandum-international-initiatives-advance-human-rights-l
The relevant language of the memo is:
Sec. 2. Protecting Vulnerable LGBT Refugees and Asylum Seekers. Those LGBT persons who seek refuge from violence and persecution face daunting challenges. In order to improve protection for LGBT refugees and asylum seekers at all stages of displacement, the Departments of State and Homeland Security shall enhance their ongoing efforts to ensure that LGBT refugees and asylum seekers have equal access to protection and assistance, particularly in countries of first asylum. In addition, the Departments of State, Justice, and Homeland Security shall ensure appropriate training is in place so that relevant Federal Government personnel and key partners can effectively address the protection of LGBT refugees and asylum seekers, including by providing to them adequate assistance and ensuring that the Federal Government has the ability to identify and expedite resettlement of highly vulnerable persons with urgent protection needs.
The US Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration also issued a press release: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/12/178341.htm
World’s Second Gay Prime Minister
Belgium has becomethe second country in the world to select an openly gay leader.
Elio Di Rupo will lead a government, ending 540 days of post- election brinksmanship between the parties of the Dutch-speaking north and French south. He will lead a coalition of six parties.
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/12/belgium-selects-worlds-second-openly-gay-leader/
December 19th, 2011 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
Over the December 9th weekend, the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office (UU-UNO) organized and facilitated our first Youth Conference (referred to affectionately as a Youth Con). It was hosted by the First Unitarian Universalist Congregational Society in Brooklyn, New 
York. On Friday, we kicked the weekend off with a UU-UNO trivia game and presentation to teach youth about the United Nations and the UU-UNO. We asked “How long has the Envoy Program been in existence?” “In what year was the UN established?” “When was the UU-UNO founded?” “What is the theme for this year’s Spring Seminar?” With Youth Envoy pins as prizes for correct answers, the youth’s hands were shooting up like rockets. The Friday night worship service was led by the Brooklyn congregation youth group, inviting us to be present in our Social Justice work.
We began Saturday with a growth exercise – a Privilege Walk. In this exercise, the facilitator, me, asked a series of questions and for each question that applied, participants were asked to either take a step forward or backwards. “If your primary national identity is American – take one step forward.” “If your ancestors were forced to come to the USA – not by choice – take one step back.” “If you studied the culture of your ancestors in elementary school – take one step forward.” The exercise can be very powerful in identifying the structures that are in place before we began making our own choices in life. These are factors that influence our everyday lives, yet many people are oblivious to these institutional and structural constructs that create the illusion of what is “normal”. These are social, political, economic and environmental circumstances we are born into that both re-enforce and widen gaps in resources and access to opportunities.
Next on the schedule were the Youth led workshops. Each workshop connected to the program initiatives of UU-UNO. For example, the Spring Seminar workshop was led by youth envoy, Elise Thompson, and focused on this upcoming years’ topic: Beyond Borders: Breaking Barriers of Race and Immigration. The discussion was around anti-racism/anti-oppression, past and present immigration laws in the U.S. and the intersection of race and immigration. Assisting with this workshop was a Metro District advisor and a UU-UNO intern, Hao Wang. The four other workshops included: “Weaving Women’s Empowerment”, “So You Wanna Be An Envoy”, “Think Globally, Act Locally”, and “Cookies And Conversing”.
During the afternoon, the youth had a facilitator training workshop led by advisor, Beth Dana. Youth worked on education from a global lens - facilitating conflicts, group discussion techniques, outreach, program planning, and more. For the All Con activity (where All at the Con participate in one activity), each youth created their own Social Justice Suuper Hero (Justice League, Social Justice League….get it?) and used the t-shirt to create and design their own cape!
The youth had small groups called Touch Groups (to “touch”-base and check-in) as well as regionally affiliated small groups called cluster groups. In each cluster group youth and advisors were asked to create an event to follow-up their experience at the Con. Each group developed ideas for activities and fundraisers to be accomplished in the near future – a coffeehouse, a bakesale, a Glow Party to raise funds and awareness for LGBT human rights. One group worked together to help a new Youth Envoy plan UN Sunday! The Saturday night worship was beautiful and moving; it called participants to share and follow their dreams both for themselves and for the world. To close the evening, we had a coffee house where youth were able to reflect on the weekend’s events and share their many talents.
Throughout the weekend youth and advisors shared personal experiences and explored social justice in worship services and discussions. By Sunday morning we were all exhausted from bonding and growing. We had worked together to create a community that thrived on justice. We were ready to go forth to share the knowledge we had gained and to be the change we want to see. As the current Youth Envoy Coordinator, I am so glad to have had the opportunity to assist in accomplishing one of our Youth Envoy Project goals. However, we have only just begun! We hope to have UU-UNO facilitated Youth Con’s in many more districts and regions.
December 16th, 2011 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
World’s Second Gay PM is Belgian
Belgium has become the second country in the world to select an openly gay leader.
Elio Di Rupo will lead a government, ending 540 days of post- election brinksmanship between the parties of the Dutch-speaking north and French south.
He will lead a coalition of six parties.
Belgium went through eight attempts to mediate the political stalemate since the elections turned a right-wing separatist party, which wants Belgium to gradually “evaporate”, into the dominant force in the northern region, Flanders.
Flanders is home to Europe’s second-largest port and companies such as Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ABI), the world’s largest brewer. It is considerably wealthier than the south, which suffers from post-industrial malaise.
Di Rupo is the son of Italian immigrants and has risen from poverty. He is known for wearing big red bow ties.
At the age of one, he lost his father in a car crash. Struggling to raise seven children, his illiterate mother gave some of them up to a nearby orphanage.
In 1996 he was falsely accused of having sex with under age boys, something which drive him to consider suicide if he had not been totally vindicated.
He told his biographer about being pursued down the street at the time by journalists yelling “they say you’re a homosexual!”
“I turned around and shot back: ‘Yes. So what?’ I will never forget that moment… For several seconds there was silence… People were so surprised by my reply they stopped jostling each other. It was a sincere, truthful reply.”
Three years later he was leading the Socialist Party and soon after became the leader of the southern Wallonia region.
Former Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt told the BBC:
“Being the chief minister of a regional government is just a pastime compared with the hellish job of being prime minister of two different communities brought together.”
“You have to have very strong personal skills to bridge all rivalries. Di Rupo surely has the skills to be in command, otherwise he would not have succeeded in the most difficult negotiation ever.
“But much will depend on his empathy for Flemish public opinion, which is extremely volatile.”
December 13th, 2011 by bknotts
The Durban Platform and what we should do about it
An essay by Jan W. Dash, UU-UNO Climate Initiative Chair
Dec 12, 2011
The Durban Climate Conference (COP17), deadlocked, ran overtime with contentious debate. Youth spoke passionately about how climate change would affect them. Finally, all 194 countries approved a compromise “Durban Platform”. The Durban Platform calls for a legally binding climate agreement to be formulated by 2015 and ratified by all countries by 2020. Developed and developing countries are to be on the same footing for greenhouse gases emission reductions. Progress occurred for the framework of a fund to help developing countries adapt to climate change, the Kyoto Protocol was extended, and agreement was reached on other issues. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the deal represents “an important advance in our work on climate change.”
But is the Durban Platform a success or a failure? The answer is neither. The underlying problem is that human consumption of cheap fossil fuels enabled the development of modern society, but also produced the greenhouse gases (mostly CO2) resulting in global warming and increasingly severe climate change impacts. Developed countries used the most fossil fuels historically and so are responsible for most existing greenhouse gases (the point developing countries make), developing countries like China and India are rapidly increasing consumption of fossil fuels (the point developed countries make), but science says the planet’s atmosphere now contains nearly or possibly more than critical amounts of greenhouse gases – so fossil fuel consumption cannot long continue by anybody if we are to avoid disaster. Only a compromise was possible. The Durban Platform is not a success because it just outlines intent, but there was no failure. A real failure would have been no agreement at all, with a breakdown in the entire process of trying to deal with the underlying problem.
Continue reading ‘The Durban Platform and What We Should Do About It’
December 12th, 2011 by Envoy Coordinator
Undocumented youth in New York stood up for their equal opportunity to higher education for undocumented people in a press conference on the stair steps in front of the City Hall on December 9
th, 2011. Undocumented youth arrived to New York as children and wish to give back to their communities and state, yet they face many obstacles due to their immigration status (quoted from the website of Youth Leadership Council). The NYS Assembly Higher Education and Governmental Operations Committees held a hearing on the NYS DREAM Legislation later that day at the City Hall.
Publicizing an official endorsement for NYS DREAM Act the night before the press conference, NYU president, John Sexton, openly supports this legislation that will provide real relief to undocumented youth. The public endorsement is available at: http://nyudreamteam.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/ny-dream-act-statment-december-2011.pdf
As a faith-based organization dedicated to advance a peaceful, just, sustainable and pluralistic world community, the UU-UNO encourages fellow UU congregants in the United States to support both the federal and state DREAM Act. We also look forward to inviting members from New York State Youth Leadership Council to speak at the 2012 Spring Seminar – “Beyond Borders: Breaking Barriers of Race and Immigration”.
December 7th, 2011 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
USUN PRESS RELEASE #294 December 6, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on the President’s Memorandum on International Initiatives to Advance the Human Rights of LGBT Persons, December 6, 2011
Today, President Obama directed all agencies to protect and promote the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons abroad. At the United Nations, we have strongly supported efforts to codify and enshrine the promise of equality for the LGBT community, and the President’s action adds yet more force to our urgent fight.
Since taking office in 2009, the Obama Administration has worked tirelessly within the UN system to advance the human rights of the world’s LGBT persons. Early on, we signed the UN General Assembly’s Statement on Sexual Orientation on Gender Identity. We joined the LGBT Core Groups in Geneva and New York. We won NGO consultative status for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. We championed the first UN resolution dedicated to advancing the basic and fundamental rights of LGBT persons. Last December, on Human Rights Day, we pledged to restore language including LGBT individuals in a resolution condemning extrajudicial killings. Within two weeks, we did so.
There is far more work to do before our LGBT friends, neighbors, parents and children live in a world free of discrimination. Through steadfast defense of our universal values, persistent engagement with international partners, and the full force of U.S. efforts under the law, we will get there. I look forward to continuing our work and proudly carrying out the President’s directive.
December 10, Human Rights Day Hillary Clinton stated, “LGBT Rights are Human Rights”.
