From: ILGA / Stephen Barris
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 10:33 PM

PRESS RELEASE

ILGA Co-Secretary General Kursad Kahramanoglu to hand a
40,000 signatures petition in favour of a resolution on
sexual orientation to Mike Smith, Chairman of the 60th
session of the United Nations Commission on Human
rights.

The petition, co-signed by 1000 organisations, will be
delivered by Mr. Kahramanoglu to Mr. Smith this Wednesday,
March 24. "This resolution" said Kahramanoglu, "is highly
significant to millions of people around the world.

Sexuality has no boundary, no religion, no race. It is
high time for governments to recognize the right of
consentual adults to live and express their desire and
love freely. Too many people still suffer human rights
violations on the grounds of their sexual orientation".

At last year's session of the Commission on Human Rights,
Brazil introduced the first ever UN resolution that
focuses on sexual orientation as a human right. After
postponement of the vote for procedural matters to this
year's session, the 53 nations now sitting in Geneva will
vote on the text before the end of the meeting, on April 23.

ILGA, a federation of over 400 national and international
organisations working for equal rights for lesbians, gay,
bisexuals and transgendered persons (LGBT), decided to
support this historical text by mobilizing forces and
asking supporters to sign a petition in favour of the text
and the inclusion of gender identity in its final version,
so as to address violations suffered by transgendered persons.

ILGA which has joined forces with a coalition of NGOs, will
be present all through the 60th UNCHR session. It has
organized a team of activists from all parts of the world
to ensure the voices of the LGBT community are heard
in Geneva.

ILGA, The International Lesbian and Gay Association, was
founded in 1978. Its motto hasn't changed since then:
Gay and Lesbian rights are human rights!

Stephen Barris / ILGA
Stephenbarris@ilga.org
Tel 0032 2 502 24 71
--
Stephen Barris
Information Officer, ILGA World News

ILGA - International Lesbian and Gay Association
"Gay and Lesbian rights are human rights"
Since 1978

Support the Brazilian resolution: sign our petition!
http://www.brazilianresolution.com

A federation of over 400 groups from about 90
countries fighting for equal human rights for lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender people.