Bigotry and overt repression of persons of the LGBT+ community has been the cutting edge of social progress during the past 50 years. Legislation repressing the LGBT+ community has increased both nationally and at the state level.
Just a brief summary of various other countries across the continents show that progress for the LGBT+ community is advancing. Reactionary, bigoted attacks against those of the LGBT+ persuasion seems to be in retreat in several societies.
Denmark
Danish Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT+) rights are some of the most extensive in the world. In 2023, International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA)-Europe ranked Denmark as the third most LGBT+-supportive country in Europe. Polls consistently show that there is universal support for same-sex marriage among the Danish population.
In Denmark, same-sex sexual activity was legalized in 1933, Denmark was the first country in the world to grant legal recognition to same-sex unions in the form of registered partnerships in 1989.
Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation was entirely prohibited in 1996. The Act on Prohibition of Unequal Treatment in the Labor Market adopted in 1996, defines “discrimination” as follows: discrimination means any direct or indirect discrimination based on race, color, religion, political opinion, sexual orientation or national, social or ethnic origin.
Cuba
The LGBT+ movement in Cuba has made significant strides in recent years. In 2022, the country voted to legalize same-sex marriage through a national referendum, making it one of the most progressive Latin American countries in terms of family law. However, historical discrimination and homophobia still exist, and there is work to be done to achieve equal rights for all. Cuba stands as a beacon of hope in the region, enshrining the most progressive Family Code in the world in its own constitution and working tirelessly to fight reactionary sentiment towards LGBT+ people.
As many scholars suggest, the Cuban Government treats trans rights and sex reassignment surgeries as a health issue. Cuba operates under the idea that healthcare is a right to all, allowing trans people access to public health care.
In 1979, the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MIN-SAP) established the Multidisciplinary Commission for Attention to Transsexuals to provide both specialized health care and social services. Mariela Castro Espín, the daughter of former President Raul Castro, and Vilma Espín, the President of the Federation of Cuban Women, describes it: “specialists in the care of transsexual persons, and … adopted internationally approved diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, which were incorporated as services offered free of charge by the [Cuban National Public Health System], along with courses to train sex therapists.”
Vietnam
The LGBT+ movement in Vietnam has gained momentum in recent years, with activists pushing for legal recognition and acceptance. The Viet Pride movement and the campaign to legalize same-sex marriage have made Vietnam a phenomenon in the global movement for LGBT+ rights.
The right to change gender was officially legalized in Vietnam after the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Civil Code in 2015.
Vietnam’s first annual gay pride parade took place in Hanoi on August 5th 2012. Since 2017, pride parades were held throughout the country.
On November 24, 2015, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam passed a landmark law by a parliamentary vote of 282–84, enshrining rights for transgender people in a move, advocacy groups say, paves the way for sex reassignment surgery.
On April 10, 2023, lawmakers put forward a proposal to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly to create a new Gender Affirmation Law, formerly known as Gender Identity Law. The law would show that Vietnam values protecting vulnerable communities and “leaving no one behind in its policies”. The proposed law would allow people the right to change gender identity, request a different gender identity to the one assigned at birth, the right to choose a medical intervention method for gender-reaffirming surgery, and strictly prohibit any form of discrimination and false information against transgender individuals, their families and relatives.
In August 2022, Vietnam conversion therapy became legally banned and it was declared that LGBT+ individuals “are not diseased” and should never be treated as such according to the Health Ministry.
South Africa
After defeating the apartheid government, the new constitution of 1996 outlawed discrimination based on sexual orientation, and in 2006, South Africa was the fifth country in the world and the first in Africa to legalize same-sex marriage. Same-sex couples can also adopt children jointly and arrange In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and surrogacy treatments. LGBT+ people have constitutional and statutory protections from discrimination in employment, the provision of goods and services and in many other areas.
LGBT+ people in South Africa have the same legal rights as everyone else, but South Africa has a complex history regarding the human rights of LGBT+ people. There are between 400,000 to over 2 million LGBT+ South Africans, and their rights have been influenced by a combination of factors. These include traditional South African morals, colonialism, and the lingering effects of apartheid and the human rights movement that contributed to abolition of anti-LGBT+ laws.
Nelson Mandela, during his 1994 inauguration speech, stated the following:
“In 1980s the African National Congress was still setting the pace, being the first major political formation in South Africa to commit itself firmly to a Bill of Rights, which we published in November 1990. These milestones give concrete expression to what South Africa can become. They speak of a constitutional, democratic, political order in which, regardless of color, gender, religion, political opinion or sexual orientation, the law will provide for the equal protection of all citizens.”
The Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill was passed by the National Assembly in March 2023 and by the National Council in November 2023, and signed into law by President Ramaphosa in May 2024
The Alteration of Sex Description and Sex Status Act allows people to apply to have their sex status altered in the population registry, and consequently to receive identity documents and passports indicating their gender identity. The law requires the person to have undergone medical or surgical treatment, such as hormone replacement therapy.
In 2021 the Department of Home Affairs announced plans to introduce voluntary gender-neutral identification on South African ID’s, the first for an African country.
United States of America
So where does this Leave the USA? Will it join progressive humankind in eliminating sexual bigotry, oppression, and the second-class citizenship status of LGBT+ people? From Cuba to Vietnam to Denmark to England to South Africa, a progressive wind is blowing throughout the globe.
However, the MAGA movement around Donald Trump and his right-wing backers has encouraged bigotry in the United States. Bigotry, like racism, is a social disease. Like most social diseases, bigotry flourishes in environments where economic stability is faltering and societal roles are being challenged. Forces on the right have historically used such periods to intensify social divisions and scapegoat minority groups in order to gain political power. Such forces were prominent in the recent US 2024 elections, and they have become so widespread that they have even infected groups on the political Left.
The Peoples LGBT+ United Society (PLUS) will join with other forces in confronting the bastions of reaction and backwardness that have been empowered by this reactionary political movement.
Retrieved from the Peoples LGBT+ United Society – LGBT+ Movement Around the World – Peoples LGBT+ United Society
