SASOD Responds to CIOG Comments on UN LGBT Stamps

The United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) has issued six (6) commemorative stamps which promote the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people as part of the "Free & Equal" campaign - an official UN campaign which promotes LGBT human rights worldwide, launched and led by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). While the UN is being heralded in the global media as the first international organisation to issue stamps promoting LGBT human rights, it is completely erroneous and misleading for the CIOG to suggest that the UN has released "stamps promoting homosexuality and transgenderism." The six, commemorative stamps promote the human rights of LGBT people - the same human rights to which members of the CIOG are entitled, and probably take for granted. It is also irrelevant whether or not the CIOG, other groups and countries approve of this publicity move. One of the fundamental pillars of the United Nations is the promotion of human rights. The human rights of sexual and gender minorities have way too long been neglected by the UN and it is way past time that the rights of this historically marginalized and socially disadvantaged group is given much-needed attention by this global, human-rights body.