Pride Month: Celebrating and Advocating for LGBTI Persons Around the World

June is Pride Month, celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex rights around the world. Here in the United States, supporters of LGBTI rights are able to voice their enthusiasm and participate in marches, a testament to the strength of our democracy. Unfortunately, that’s not the case everywhere. Recent attacks during the Pride Marches in Croatia, Poland and Russia only adds to the fact that LGBTI persons around the world continue to be persecuted and suffer from violent hate crimes. But this is not to say that we aren’t progressing on this front. Last week, the UN Human Rights Council passed the first-ever UN resolution prohibiting violence or discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This establishes a formal UN process for documenting human rights abuses and discrimination against LGBT individuals, thereby creating greater accountability and a mechanism for “naming and shaming” countries that do not work to protect the freedoms of LGBTs. In this week’s podcast, we focus on celebrating and advocating for rights of LGBTI persons.