New Republic: IGLHRC "Does Not Really Do Much," Ettelbrick's "Two Cents"
Writer James Kirchick in February posted a spot-on short critique of IGLHRC and its leader on the New Republic's blog, The Plank. The only thing I wish to add is that three days after the U.S. State Department issued the 2006 human rights report, full of gay and HIV citations, IGLHRC has steadfastly maintained a policy of silence about it.
What do you think gays and people with AIDS around the world feel about Ettelbrick and IGLHRC doing nothing to use the State Dept report to advance respect for their human rights?
What do you think gays and people with AIDS around the world feel about Ettelbrick and IGLHRC doing nothing to use the State Dept report to advance respect for their human rights?
Thank you, Mr. Kirchick, for speaking much truth, in a few words, about IGLHRC. From The Plank:
SELECTIVE DISCRIMINATION:[...]Earlier this month, a United Nations consultative committee on NGOs rejected the credentials of the Coalition of Gays and Lesbians of Quebec, as well as a similar group from Sweden. [...]This move seems to be a positive reversal in American policy, as last year our government backed a plan by Iran to block similar status for the International Lesbian and Gay Association.Offering her two cents at the time was Paula Ettelbrick, Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, which, in spite of it's highfalutin name, does not really do much. She said, "Unfortunately, denying LGBT groups a voice and a presence within the United Nations -- the world's most important human rights institution -- is fully in keeping with the U.S.'s assault on basic human rights principles worldwide."It's comforting to know that an organization ostensibly devoted to protecting the rights of gay people around the world would focus its vitriol on the few nations that don't behead, imprison, or torture homosexuals. Last year, in the run-up to World Pride in Jerusalem (the only place in the Middle East where such an event could even be fathomed), Ettelbrick sent a message to her organization's board stating that "we do not feel it is appropriate to participate in a 'world pride' event in the middle of an occupation and in a location were our colleagues from the region could not travel to Israel to participate." [...]It should be noted that the human rights concerns of IGLHRC have not prevented it from dispatching a delegation to a conference in Cuba, which makes Laramie, Wyoming look like the Castro, no pun intended.
This email arrived shortly after I posted a link to the New Republic's blog:
ReplyDeleteAs Michael continues his various vendettas, I have to note that the author of this particular piece on the New Republic’s blog distinguished himself some months ago by a vicious attack in the Advocate on Rauda Morcos and the heroic Palestinian women’s group ASWAT. In that hatchet job, he accused Morcos of being insufficiently a single-issue activist, of allowing her concern for Palestinian freedom as well as gay rights to inhibit her from voicing what should be her gratitude to Israel—occupation, checkpoints, wall, and all. He actually illustrated this piece on human rights abuses in Palestine with a photograph which many of us recognized as that of an Iranian torture victim. That’s a pretty gross error which the Advocate never corrected, but it obviously stemmed from the author’s belief that all those countries—Arab, Persian, whatever—are just the same old hellhole, and who cares which is which? People whose grasp of both justice and geography is so tenuous can be disregarded in their commentary on other issues.
Best,
SL
Scott Long
Director
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY USA 10118
Tel. +01 (212) 216-1297
Fax +01 (212) 216-1876
E-mail: longs@hrw.org
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