Because We Are Human: Contesting US Support for Gender and Sexuality Human Rights Abroad

Description

Offers a complete empirical account of US government programs, policies, and interventions outside the United States on behalf of the human rights of LGBTQ people. Around the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people continue to be threatened, attacked, arrested, tortured, and sometimes executed just for being sexual or gender minorities. Since the final months of the Clinton administration, agencies and officials of the US government have been engaging in programs and projects whose stated purposes are to serve goals of justice and equity for LGBTQ people outside the United States. Because We Are Human gives readers an inside look at US sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) human rights assistance programs. Cynthia Burack explores settings where indigenous and transnational human rights advocates meet to fund and strategize SOGI human rights movements. This book also examines key arguments against these programs, policies, and interventions that originate on both the conservative right and the progressive academic left. Burack ultimately recommends support for a US commitment to SOGI human rights and programs that serve the needs of LGBTQ people. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Putting the SOGI in Human Rights From Human Rights to SOGI Human Rights Human Rights: What Are They Good For? International LGBT Organizations The Mainstreaming of LGBT Human Rights The Yogyakarta Principles The UN and Member States Support SOGI Human Rights A Map of the Book Chapter 1 The US Government and SOGI Human Rights Abroad: The Early Years The Clinton Administration The Early Years: SOGI Before 2009 The Nazi Persecutee Relief Fund The “Gay Billboards Scandal” The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief The Obama Years: 2009–2011 PEPFAR Redux Country Reports on Human Rights Practices UN Universal Periodic Review Lifeline: Embattled Civil Society Organizations Assistance Fund Coming Out on SOGI Human Rights Chapter 2 SOGI Rights Are Human Rights, and Human Rights Are SOGI Rights What Happens in Geneva Doesn’t Stay in Geneva Unpacking the Speech Part One: Just Human Rights Part Two: SOGI/LGBTQ Human Rights Part Three: What Is to Be Done Part Four: To LGBTQ People Worldwide Reviews, Responses, and Rejoinders Liberal Responses Conservative Responses Progressive/Critical Responses Political Values and Political Reason Chapter 3 The US Government and SOGI Human Rights: After Geneva The Global Equality Fund Diplomatic Initiatives/Embassy Engagement A Tale of Two Embassies Country No Promo Homo Uganda International SOGI Human Rights Conferences US–Indigenous SOGI Advocacy: A Case Study The 2013 ASOGIHRO Conference The 2015 ASOGIHRO Conference USAID and LGBTI Human Rights Special Envoy for LGBTI Human Rights SOGI Human Rights Skepticism Chapter 4 No Human Right to Sodomy: Christian Conservative Opposition to SOGI Human Rights The “External” Critique of SOGI Human Rights US Anti-LGBT Civil Rights Politics The Christian Right’s Human Rights SOGI versus Religion in Human Rights The Travels of Cultural Imperialism Christian Conservatism as Cultural Relativism Chapter 5 Dispensing Human Rights? Critical Humanists and SOGI Human Rights The “Internal” Critique of SOGI Human Rights The Problem of the State When Critique Goes Bad What about Homonationalism? On Critique Running Out of Steam Knowing What We Know Human Rights and the Unthinkable On Blaming America First Afterword Reflections on SOGI Human Rights and Democracy Opposing SOGI from the Right and Left SOGI Human Rights and Problems for Democracy On Evading Human Rights Transparency On Imposing Western Gender or Sexual Identities On US Human Rights Assistance Undermining Democracy On Strengthening Authoritarianism and Facilitating Violence Final Reflections Appendix A Barack Obama, Presidential Memorandum Appendix B Hillary Clinton, Remarks in Recognition of International Human Rights Day Notes Index