Celebrating Pride Month demonstrates the power of inclusion. Photo from the archive UNAIDS joins LGBTQ+ communities around the world in celebrating Pride Month Human rights
As LGBTQ+ communities and allies celebrate Pride Month in the streets, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) advocates for solidarity, rejecting the criminalization, discrimination and stigmatization of LGBTQ+ people and insisting on the need to treat all people with respect .
The Power of Inclusion
“Celebrating Pride Month demonstrates the power of inclusion,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima. “Thanks to him, the world has made significant progress in the fight to protect the rights of members of the LGBTQ+ community. The results of this work are significant. But the progress made is now under threat. Today, more than ever, the world needs a sense of pride: to protect everyone’s health, we need to protect their rights.”
Lots of reasons to celebrate
There are many reasons to celebrate. According to UNAIDS, 123 countries do not have any punishment for same-sex relationships. This is the largest number of countries in history to de-criminalize.
More countries are moving away from harmful punitive anti-LGBTQ+ laws that are often relics of colonialism. Since 2019 alone, Botswana, Gabon, Angola, Bhutan, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Singapore, St. Kitts and Nevis, Cook Islands, Mauritius and the Dominican Republic have repealed laws targeting LGBTQ+ people.
Hate propaganda
However, human rights in LGBTQ+ communities are threatened by a globally coordinated and well-funded anti-legal network of extremists who spend millions promoting hatred and social division and propose increasingly harsh laws to punish LGBTQ+ people. Attacks against LGBTQ+ people violate human rights and undermine public health.
This dangerous time requires courage and solidarity from everyone, UNAIDS says. Pride month is always associated not only with a fun holiday, but also with protest movements and tributes. The first parade participants in New York City more than 50 years ago knew that the Pride Parade was an antidote to stigma and discrimination, a denial of the shame they felt. Movements led by LGBTQ+ activists have led to significant progress in protecting human rights and health care for all people.
Solidarity saves lives
Today we are at a turning point in history: eradicating AIDS as a public health threat is possible within this decade, but progress is threatened by resistance to human rights. When support for human rights defenders is vital and urgently needed, funding for civil society organizations decreases as donor states cut their budgets. “The evidence is clear: stigma kills, but solidarity saves lives,” UNAIDS emphasizes.