Some say that sexual orientation and gender identity are sensitive issues. I understand. Like many of my generation, I did not grow up talking about these issues. But I learned to speak out because lives are at stake, and because it is our duty under the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to protect the rights of everyone, everywhere.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the Human Rights Council, 7 March 2012
Lesbians, gays, bi-sexuals, transgender, and queer people do not claim any “special” or “additional rights” but are guaranteed the same rights as those of all other persons. The main principles guiding the rights approach to sexual orientation relate to equality and non-discrimination. While the human right legal framework does not refer directly to discrimination based on sexual orientation, it does prohibit discrimination on grounds of sex. In 1993 the UN Commission on Human Rights declared that the prohibition against sex discrimination in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) included discrimination on the basis of sexual preference.
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