Petrelis Files

All Gay/HIV Citations in New State Dept Human Rights Report Available on the Web

Every reference in the latest annual State Department human rights global survey of either abuses or advancements of respect for the human rights of gays and people with HIV/AIDS has been culled by Rick Rosendall of GLAA, the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance based in Washington.

The excerpts from the 2006 report, on all countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, makes for very depressing reading, but that is minor compared to the almost-daily bashings, second-class treatment, stabbings, social and legal disrespect and even death faced by our brothers and sisters across the planet.

Click here to read the 2006 gay/HIV excerpts, and click here for the 2005 version, and go here for the 2004 excerpts.

This latest State Department report is a living tool that gay rights advocates, lawyers and people seeking asylum, not just in the USA but other nations as well, use to gain asylum from governments and societies that violate the human rights protections of gays.

The report is also a vital document local activists in many countries use throughout the year to generate news attention to promote gay tolerance and equality, and to educate politicians everywhere about the myriad problems gays globally are dealing with.

In addition to expressing my sincere gratitude to Rosendall for excerpting the pertinent gay and HIV/AIDS citations of the report, I must also publicly thank the well-respected State Department employees who performed the research necessary to draft such a comprehensive summary and wrote it.

It's alway important to recognize the appropriate federal workers and their dedication to making the annual report the valuable document that it is for all the world's citizens concerned with human rights for everyone, but especially for gay and HIV/AIDS activists, whose issues are too often overlooked by international government agencies and NGOs.

These are the State Department people I salute and who deserve kudos from the gay and AIDS communities:

Within the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, the editorial staff of the Country Reports Team consists of:

Editor-in-Chief - Stephen Eisenbraun;

Office Directors - Bruce Connuck, Nadia Tongour, and Francisco Palmieri;

Senior Editors - Jonathan Bemis, Daniel Dolan, Stephen Eisenbraun, Jerome L. Hoganson, Sandra Murphy, Elizabeth Ramborger, and Julie Turner;

Editors - Kulsum Ali, Joseph S. Barghout, Kate Berglund, Sarah Buckley, Laura Carey, Elise Carlson, Ryan J. Casteel, Cheryl Clayton, Sharon C. Cooke, Susan Corke, Stuart Crampton, Tamara Crouse, Frank B. Crump, Mollie Davis, Douglas B. Dearborn, Cortney Dell, Lauren DiSilvio, Joan Garner, Saba Ghori, Karen Gilbride, Elliott Gillerman, Lisa Heller, Victor Huser, Stan Ifshin, David T. Jones, Simone Joseph, Salman Khan, Anne Knight, Catherine Kuchta-Holbling, Lawrence Lesser, Jessica Lieberman, Gregory Maggio, Michael Michener, Jennie Munoz, Daniel L. Nadel, Catherine Newling, Emily Oswell, Peter Sawchyn, Amy Schmisseur, Patricia Meeks Schnell, Sonam Shah, Wendy Silverman, Melissa Sims, James Todd, Terry Tracy, Nicole Willett, Whitney Wilson, Suzanne Yountchi, and Robert Zuehlke;

Contributing Editor - Lynne Davidson;

Editorial Assistants - Elyse Bauer, Adrienne Bory, Karen Chen, Carol Finerty, Maureen Gaffney, Sylvia Hammond, Noel Hartley, Laura Jordan, David Perez, Lindsay Robinson, Nicole Bibbins Sedaca, Julie Short, Nora Vacariu, Emily Weaver, Eva Weigold, and Melike Yetken;

Technical Support-Linda C. Hayes, Paul Skoczylas, and Tanika N. Willis.