Delivering mistakes

The USA is poised to withdraw from an international treaty that could make life more difficult for citizens who live overseas temporarily or permanently. This could affect a great many things, including voting by overseas US citizens, but the reason behind the change seems to be about money—and mistakes.

The (US) National Association of Counties (stylised as NACo) reported on its blog yesterday that the USA is about to withdraw from the United Nations’ Universal Postal Union (UPU). The UPU is a 142-year-old treaty, which the UPU describes this way:

With its 192 member countries, the UPU is the primary forum for cooperation between postal sector players. It helps to ensure a truly universal network of up-to-date products and services.

In this way, the organization fulfils an advisory, mediating and liaison role, and provides technical assistance where needed. It sets the rules for international mail exchanges and makes recommendations to stimulate growth in mail, parcel and financial services volumes and improve quality of service for customers.

Back on October 18, 2018, the White House announced (copy and paste this link to get to the White House Press Statement: http://bit.ly/33znhi6) that it was withdrawing from the UPU. That process is due to be completed on October 19, 2019—just a few short months before the 2020 presidential primary voting is due to begin.

According to estimates by the Federal Voting Assistance Programme (FVAP), and shared by NACo in the link above, there are approximately a million active duty service members and three million other US citizens living in 170 countries that are eligible to vote in federal elections, and all of them will rely, at least in part, on postal delivery. No one knows how the US withdrawal from the UPU will affect those voters.

We could find out soon. There are some state and local elections in November of this year, and some ballots will be sent out in September. That means that the withdrawal from the UPU will happen right in the middle of the 2019 voting programme, and no one knows what that will mean for returning ballots on time this year. Tt may out to be a test for what could happen in 2020.

It’s tempting for some to think that this is part of a plan to deny the vote to US citizens living overseas, but while that’s without basis, it’s definitely understandable. As everyone knows, the USA has long been notorious for its efforts to make voting harder, whether through gerrymandering districts, actively suppressing the votes of minorities or supporters of the other political party, or refusing to allow former prison inmates to vote—the list is practically endless. However, not only is there no evidence suggesting vote suppression is the reason for this, the evidence suggest that it’s merely a consequence.

First, there’s no solid data on how overseas US citizens vote. That means there’s no way of knowing which party would be most affected by the change, so targeting overseas voters could be self-defeating for the current regime, particularly since no one knows if it will affect voters at all. Second, and regardless of party preference, there just aren’t enough overseas votes to sway a statewide election, like for US Senator or US President in a state, and that means overseas voters are highly unlikely to influence what candidate gets a state’s Electoral College Votes (the only total that actually matters). That said, those votes might, at least theoretically, help determine small elections, like for US Representative. Maybe.

The real issue is that withdrawal from the UPU is that it will affect far more than just voting: Potentially, all letters, cards, small packages, etc., sent through postal services could be affected, with higher costs and potential delays. Even NACo, which is interested in the move because counties are usually responsible for sending out and receiving elections material, noted that the current regime “cited concerns over terminal due rates as the primary reason for the withdrawal and hopes to establish self-declared rates for small packages to ensure American businesses remain competitive in the e-commerce marketplace.” In other words, it’s all about money. It’s not hard to imagine the leader of the current regime calling the UPU arrangements “very unfair”. Probably in a Tweet. Well, maybe if he understood it.

The best and most likely explanation, then, is that this is all about money, as such things usually are. It seems unlikely that withdrawal from the UPU will accomplish what the current regime thinks it will, of course, which, of course, isn’t unusual for them. Based on the evidence, I think the move is absolutely ideological, but only because it’s all about money for corporations. It’s also probably about the current regime’s general, ordinary incompetence.

I’m certainly open to evidence that I’m wrong—about the regime’s motives or even its incompetence. But absent that, this seems to be one of those times that the simplest explanation is the best.

US citizens living overseas could, potentially, have a harder time voting, yes. But they also could have a harder time sending a birthday card to Great Aunt Agnes, or a Christmas present to their parents. And this could result in higher costs for e-commerce companies, including ones shipping TO the USA. Time will tell if these are a problems or not, but, for now, there’s no evidence that the regime is intending to make life harder for US citizens living overseas, even though it could very well do so. The really sad part of all of this, though, is that saying the current regime doesn’t appear to be trying to make people’s lives harder intentionally is unusually high praise of them.

The photo at the top of this post is from a 2016 Instagram Post that I also shared in a blog post called, “I Voted, 2016 edition”. It’s my own photo. And my hand, for that matter.

More gratuitous cruelty from the USA’s current regime

There are plenty of times the current regime controlling the White House does something that is obviously wrong. Sometimes, though rarely, it’s not obvious that there’s something wrong with their actions, and rarest of all is when the regime does something truly awful, but to supporters of the regime it looks perfectly fine and reasonable. Yesterday brought an example of this sort of thing.

Yesterday the regime announced that it would no longer give diplomatic visas to the same-gender domestic partners of United Nations staff or diplomats unless the couples are married. They’re spinning it as merely ensuring all couples should be treated equally. That’s false.

Under the new policy announced Monday (US time), unmarried couples have until December 31 to prove they’re married. If they don’t, then the non-diplomat partner will be required to leave the USA within 30 days.

The regime points out that normally the partner of a diplomat or UN official must be married to the diplomat in order to get a diplomatic visa. This is why the supporters of the current regime would think this policy is okay—because it’ll “treat all couples the same”. There are good reasons for the old policy.

The State Department changed the rules for un-married same-gender couples in 2009 to help gay people avoid persecution. Currently, only 12% of UN members recognise marriage of same-gender couples—but that’s not the biggest problem: As of last year, 72 countries and territories criminalise homosexuality, which means gay people there could be sentenced to prison. Worse, 10 countries or parts of them have the death penalty for homosexuality.

What this means is that unmarried same-gender couples could face prison or worse when they return home after getting married in the USA in order to meet visa requirements. So, in essence, the current regime is potentially forcing same-gender couples to choose between love and life.

The obvious question here is why is the current regime doing this? There’s no reason they couldn’t have just continued the current policy and protected vulnerable LGBT couples. But, they didn’t. Why? The most likely reasons for this policy change are: Anti-gay animus, personal grudges, hatred of the United Nations, or a combination of one or all of these motivations.

The current vice president is a vicious anti-LGBT bigot who has been working quietly out of sight to erode the rights of LGBT people in the USA in line with his ultra-extremist religious views. He wants to go much farther, and if the regime controls the Supreme Court he may get his wish. This policy change is an easy way to screw over LGBT people without getting a law change through Congress.

In considering a personal vendetta as a motive, consider this: The person who implemented the previous policy, allowing un-married same-gender couples to be together without marriage, was then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The current occupant of the White House hates her with a blood-lust second only to his hatred of President Obama. The hatred of the Clintons by Republican Party leaders is well-known and decades old. So, this would be an easy way to undo one of the very good things that Secretary Clinton did, just as the current occupant has been working hard to erase President Obama from history.

Third, this regime despises the United Nations. This is obvious, among other reasons, because of the way the current regime constantly belittles and alienates long-term allies and praises brutal dictatorships. In fact, as Foreign Policy reported exclusively, the current regime has been secretly working to cut off funding for UN programs they don’t like, in direct defiance of Congressional intent. This policy change could really be just another way to stick it to the UN.

The most likely explanation is the regime’s anti-gay animus, given how hard the current vice president has pushed his anti-LGBT agenda. The revenge factor would have appealed to the current occupant, and would be enough to get him enthusiastic about it, but the anti-gay animus is by far the most likely reason for the sudden change.

The United States doesn’t permit citizens to sponsor their partner for immigration unless they are married—and these days, not even that is enough as they routinely deny residence to the legal spouses of US citizens, and even deport the non-citizen spouse. Most Western countries have far more sensible and humane policies, allowing citizens—and usually permanent residents—to sponsor their partner for residence, regardless of gender and whether they’re married or not.

However, this isn’t about ordinary citizens, but, rather, about people who come to the US to work for diplomatic missions or the United Nations and want to bring their same-gender partner with them. By forcing them to marry or split up, the current regime is being gratuitously cruel—another reason to suspect it’s the vice president’s work.

There are plenty of times the current regime controlling the White House does something that is obviously wrong. Yesterday brought an example of this, and of their abject cruelty.

New Zealand’s very good week

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has completed her trip to the United Nations. The NZ Labour Party released very short daily videos of highlights from that day, something I only found out about halfway through. Jacinda also did a Facebook Live event several days. The best way to see them is probably one right after the other, so here they are:

Day One



Day Two



Here’s the first Facebook Live that the prime minister did:



Day Three



Day Four



The prime minister also did a Facebook Live from the greenroom of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert:



Day Five



The prime minister also did a Facebook Live video from “backstage” at the UN, and she provides some background about where she was, and her speech:



It was a very successful trip in which Jacinda promoted, as pundits call it, “New Zealand, Inc.” as well as New Zealand’s values and commitment to international solutions to global problems. We’ll be hearing more about all that here in New Zealand over the coming years, but this week the USA and other countries got to hear it all for themselves.

It was a very good week for New Zealand.

New Zealand on the world stage

The video above is of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s speech to the United Nations. The nature of the speech made some people describe her as the “anti-Trump”, but this is unfair. She was articulating New Zealand values and New Zealand’s vision for the world, and if other countries find their leaders lacking, that has nothing to do with us, or our prime minister.

For me, one of the highlights came near the end of her speech:

I for one will never celebrate the gains we have made for women domestically, while internationally other women and girls experience a lack of the most basic of opportunities and dignity. Me Too must become We Too. We are all in this together.

This is a powerful statement in support of of women’s empowerment, which is so desperately needed in so many countries, but also of fundamental human values. This is what New Zealand stands for.

While the United Nations speech got most of the headlines here, Jacinda also delivered the keynote address at the International Conference on Sustainable Development:



This speech echoes some of the things she said in the UN speech, but this one was more pointed. “Politics is a place that you can address injustice,” she said. That is one of the most fundamental values of the New Zealand Labour Party that she leads, and it’s what I have always believed, no matter what party I supported. Beyond that, she sets out a vision of an entirely new way of measuring a country’s success, one that can pave the way forward, and out of the mess that all Western nations find themselves in.

Our prime minister is a breath of fresh air, espousing both progressive and human values—New Zealand values—and she has done us proud on the world stage. It was a successful visit.

One Planet Summit Keynote Address

In the video above, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivers the keynote address at the One Planet Summit in New York. The Summit was co-hosted by French President Macron and UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Worth Quoting: Willie Jackson

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is attending the United Nations General Assembly and spoke yesterday. Her partner, Clarke Gayford, and their baby, Neve, were in the audience. Apparently, it was the first time a baby had been there.

In response, Labour MP Willie Jackson posted this on his Facebook Page:

Let's just take a pause from all the angry politics and allow the joy of Jacinda, Clarke and beautiful wee Neve at the UN to wash over us and feel pride at our leader and us as a people.

"We must not be silent in the face of intolerance, hate and discrimination. We must speak for those who do not have voice", when Jacinda spoke these words at the UN General Assembly during the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit, while Clarke held Neve, she not only channeled a new type of leadership based on kindness and compassion, she challenged every stereotype that has locked women and men into the career or family trap. They showed everyone that with support, people can have family and career.

She has also shown the planet that leadership doesn't require brutal tough guy masculinity, there can be an equally strong leadership through simple kindness. She has done more for our international standing in one appearance than many Prime Ministers manage in a lifetime. We should all feel a deep pride in the way Jacinda, Clarke and Neve have shone and represented us on the global stage. Their humble grace reminds us all of our basic humanity. There is a joy in all of this and we should all drink deeply from it, this is a moment where we are all included and have all been served wonderfully by our Prime Minister and her family.

We can get back to arguing and bickering about politics tomorrow, but today was truly special.

I completely agree with him. It’s time not just for a new generation of leaders, but also a new generation of leadership, and Jacinda is an example of that.

This is the speech Willie Jackson was responding to, given at the United Nations General Assembly during the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit:

UN Free & Equal: Be there. Be an ally.

The video above is the latest from the United Nations’ “Free & Equal” campaign. The UN released the video on the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia to introduce a new mini-campaign “celebrating allies and the vital role they play in the lives of lesbian, gay, bi, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people”, as they put it in an email. It's a good effort.

The video highlights the different ways one can be an ally. As they put it in their YouTube description:

Being an ally is about more than silent acceptance. It’s about being there for your lesbian, gay, bi, trans and intersex (LGBTI) family members, friends, colleagues and neighbours. It’s about striving to understand their experiences, and helping them to understand yours. It’s about supporting one another in times of need. It’s about setting a positive example for others. And most importantly, it’s about creating a more inclusive and loving society where everyone is valued, no matter who they are or whom they love.

The website for the Free & Equal project has several suggestions on on how someone can be a better ally:

• Come out as an ally! Be vocal of your support for the LGBTI community at school, at work, in your family, community and on social media.
• Educate yourself about the diverse experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people, their issues and concerns – in your community and around the world.
• Reach out to organizations that are raising awareness and advocating to end criminalization, violence, discrimination and other abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people – and ask them how you can support.
• Respect safety, privacy and confidentiality – do not refer to, or reveal, a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics without their consent.
• Use people’s preferred terms, pronouns, genders and names. If you don’t know – respectfully ask.
• Don’t make assumptions about people’s sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics.
• Confront your own prejudices and bias – especially if it makes you uncomfortable to do so.
• Speak out when you hear bullying, insults and harmful myths and stereotypes against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex children and adults. Avoid jokes, slurs and harmful stereotypes that can be hurtful to LGBTI people and let other people know that you find them offensive.
• Speak out when you see bullying and insults against LGBTI children and adults.

I think this is a good idea. Being supportive of LGBT+ people is important, but heterosexual people are sometimes unsure of how, exactly, to do that. Providing specific information on how to be an ally, and why it’s so important, is a really good thing, these days especially.

I have to admit I was worried about the Free & Equal campaign after the change in Secretary General, because I wasn’t sure he’d have the same level of commitment as his predecessor. I still don’t know whether he personally does or not, but the project is still there and still trying to advance the cause for LGBT+ people worldwide. That’s a very good thing, indeed.

No one campaign or even organisation can make the world a safer and better place by itself, but everyone working together can—even just ordinary people acting as true allies. I hope this campaign helps more people become allies.

We need allies now more than ever.

#CultureOfLove spreads a great message

The United Nations’ Free & Equal project has launched a mini-campaign exploring the role that culture and tradition play in the lives of lesbian, gay, bi, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people around the world. The #CultureOfLove campaign features three short videos that show what it looks like when culture and tradition are opened to LGBTI people. I think they’re awesome: Anyone who is LGBTI—or loves someone who is—should watch them.

In Tradition (above), as the Free & Equal project put it in an email, “a young man in Mumbai brings his boyfriend to a family celebration of the Festival of Holi”. One of the end title cards (shared with all three videos) says, “Culture and tradition should bring us together, not tear us apart”. No one with a heart could possibly disagree with that.

The second video I watched was Culture, though it was actually the third posted to their YouTube Channel (where, as usual, all these videos are available in a variety of languages). In this video, “a genderqueer youngster in Britain joins their father at a soccer match and basks in the camaraderie that goes with supporting the local team”:



Finally, in Family, “Chinese parents shake off their initial hesitation and include their daughter’s same sex partner in their traditional Lunar New Year celebrations”:


What all three videos have in common is that they show very traditional cultures that are traditionally more or less anti-LGBTQI, and how people letting go of the chains of traditional culture and embracing love of family can make the world a better place.

All of this is based on Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community”. In the website for the campaign, they say:

Culture and tradition are profound parts of our lives. They allow us to come together to mark life’s milestones, and celebrate our heritage and the people we love. For many, they provide a sense of home, of history and identity.

Culture and tradition belong to everyone. Each of us gets to interpret, adapt and practice the beliefs, customs and rituals that are meaningful to us as individuals. These are basic cultural rights – guaranteed to everyone without discrimination.

Sadly, some people see the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bi, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people as a threat to their cultural values. They may try, wrongly, to rationalize violence and discrimination as a way of protecting their beliefs in the name of culture and tradition. No matter how diverse people’s beliefs and values, culture and tradition are not a license to discriminate or an excuse for violence.

Culture and tradition are not fixed: they change over time and are viewed and interpreted differently within societies. There are traditions of hate and repression, just as there are traditions of equality and justice. It's up to each of us to decide for ourselves which ones to carry on. You decide.

This is the heart—literally and figuratively—of this. In Western societies we’ve seen rapid progress for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual people, even as we see growing repression of, and hatred directed toward, Trans people. LGB people have won, for now, the right to marry and be treated as any other citizen in most Western countries, but Trans people are still left to wonder when their time will come, when they, too, will be welcomed as free and equal people.

To be sure, the West has no room to gloat or to puff out its chest: Homophobia and Transphobia are rife throughout our societies, and even the hard-fought right to marry for same-gender couples could be taken away in an instant if we become the same object of hatred that Trans people are now, or as we were in the past.

But even where legal protections exist, so, too, does violence, hatred, and discrimination. There are many reasons for that, but culture and tradition are often used as justifications for it (as for example to justify the creation of concentration camps for and torture of LGBT people in Chechnya), and it is always wrong and unjustifiable.

My personal belief is that if one’s culture or tradition tells one to use violence and discrimination against LGBTI people, there’s something wrong with that culture or tradition, not the object of their enmity. Love and family must always come before culture and tradition, and when it does, change happens and cultures grow and form new, inclusive traditions.

Still, it’s impossible to wave a magic wand and transform a culture or to make long-held traditions adapt. Instead, WE do that, and it begins with a simple and clear determination to put love and family first. This is the way forward, I think.

The UN’s Free & Equal Campaign has put out some great videos over the years (see also below), and this series continues that. They’re doing good work toward making this world a better, safer, more peaceful place, and they should be commended. I hope they succeed in changing hearts and minds. I hope they help us all become Free & Equal.

Previously on this blog:

Suggested realities (2013) – My post where I first mentioned the Free & Equal Campaign
Free and Equal (2013) – From later the same day as the first post in this list, it was where I first shared a video, The Riddle.
Free & Equal – ‘The Welcome’ (2014)
UN Fighting to make LGBT people Free & Equal (2015) – A post with five videos from Free & Equal
This is my fight song (2016) – With the video Why We Fight featuring the song “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten, the first time I’d ever heard that song.

This is my fight song

The video above, from the United Nations’ Free & Equal campaign, was released for the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. It struck a chord with me, especially at the moment. It encapsulates much of why I support human rights for all people, and have fought so hard for the human rights of LGBT people—and also why I won’t quit fighting.

Watching this video, I was reminded of how damn good we have it in many western countries. People in some of the countries in the video are fighting for their very lives, often literally, and often against the threat of imprisonment or death at the hands of their own governments. In many of those countries, the oppression of LGBT people is crushing.

As I’ve been saying the past few days, the radical right professional anti-gay industry is STILL campaigning to roll back the human rights of LGBT Americans, and I've added that since they decided to manufacturer a controversy over trans people using the public toilet that matches their gender identity, the radicals are often succeeding. I’ve also talked about how successful they’ve been in convincing otherwise rational, sensible people that the radicals’ propaganda is true, when it absolutely isn’t.

There are some people—including even within the LGB communities—who argue that we should just forget about trans people and jettison any concern over their oppression in order to save ourselves.

I think that’s bullshit.

The same radicals who are now targeting trans people hate LGB people every bit as much, and their war is ultimately against the human rights of us all. If we abandon trans people, it will not save us, but it could hasten the day the radicals win: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.

If I chose to ignore the oppression of trans people because I’m not trans, then why should I care about racism? I’m white. Why should I care about sexism? I’m male. For that matter, why should I care what happens to lesbians or bi people?

I’ll tell you why: Because for over 35 years I’ve fought too damn hard to ensure that human rights are respected and protected to stop now. I cannot ignore the oppression of people who are not like me because I know only too well that I, too, am a target of the radical right.

There’s an alternative to the hatred and bigotry of the far right, something so simple that they have no defence against it: Humanity. If we start every political discussion with the acknowledgement that everyone—even our adversaries, and including people we cannot understand—are human beings, then we can halt the endless cycle of hatred and violence. As I often say, inspired by Harvey Milk, it’s easy to hate in the third person: Them, those, they. It’s much harder to hate in the second person: You, my neighbour; you, my schoolmate; you, my co-worker; you, my preacher; you, my child. Our challenge is to make sure the first person acknowledges the second person is an equal.

Hatred is strong in the world. Prejudice, bigotry, oppression, discrimination—we humans have plenty of ways of dividing us against ourselves. What we need, so very desperately, are ways to overcome fear and hatred and to recognise the humanity we share DESPITE our differences, and the beauty of life BECAUSE of our differences.

The path of love will always win over hatred in the end. It’s not always easy or direct, and often not fast, but love always triumphs over hatred in the end. Always.

So, it seems obvious to me that we need to recognise that whatever divides us, we all ought to be free & equal, and we all must all work toward that goal, no matter how hard it may be sometimes.

And, I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me.

The song in the video is “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten.

UN Fighting to make LGBT people Free & Equal

Free & Equal is a United Nations Campaign for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Equality, and an initiative of the UN Human Rights Office. The UN recognises how destructive discrimination against LGBT people is, and they’re working to end it.

Here are some recent videos from that campaign.

The video above, “The Price of Exclusion” is the latest from the Free & Equal campaign, and exposes just how much exclusion of LGBT people really costs. It’s a lot more than most people could guess.

Narrated by actor Zachary Quinto, who is openly gay, the video uses a simple animated technique for data visualisation. I think it works very well. The video is summed up in its YouTube description:

Rates of poverty, homelessness, depression and suicide have been found to be far higher among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people than in the general population. But it’s not just LGBT people who pay the price. We all do. Every LGBT child thrown out of home and forced to miss out on education is a loss for society. Every LGBT worker denied their rights is a lost opportunity to build a fairer and more productive economy.

These losses are entirely self-inflicted. With different laws and policies in place and a different mind-set, we could and would achieve a more free and equal world—that is more prosperous too!

The next video, “Voices from the Front Lines”, was posted a couple months ago. It depicts testimonies from survivors of homophobic and transphobic discrimination and violence that were shown to world leaders during the UN General Assembly. It was at an event on the importance of not leaving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people behind when the Sustainable Development Goals are being implemented.



Also from September is “The UN and the Fight against Homophobia & Transphobia”, which explains why the United Nations has this campaign, and some of the recent highlights.



The next video, “Faces”, is from May, and was mentioned in the video above. The YouTube description again sums it up well:

"Lesbian", "gay", "bisexual", "transgender", "intersex", "queer": can you see past the labels?

This video from the United Nations Free & Equal campaign celebrates the contributions that millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people make to families and local communities around the world. The cast features "real people" (not actors), filmed in their workplaces and homes—among them, a firefighter, a police officer, a teacher, an electrician, a doctor and a volunteer, as well as prominent straight ally and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The point is to encourage people to look beyond labels, and to be an ally. But it also shows the sort of ordinary people who they’re talking about in the video up top.



Finally, something a little lighter, from September 2014: “Selfies for Equality.” Free & Equal operated a photo booth as world leaders, activists and others arrived at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City for the opening of the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly. And, yes, I’m aware that these aren’t actually selfies, but I don’t think that matters.



I know that many people are cynical nowadays, and some can’t see what the point of all this is. For one thing, we live in an era of images, short video images in particular, and videos like these can help reach people in ways that nothing else can.

But, what if they don’t help much at all? Well, so what?! It’s important to fight to end discrimination against LGBTI people, and the United Nations definitely has a role to play.

The battle has a long way to go, of course, but it’s important work, and I’m glad the UN is engaged.

Free & Equal – ‘The Welcome’

The video above is the latest from the UN’s Free & Equal campaign. They describe it as “the first-ever Bollywood music video for gay rights”, and the message is, “everyone should be welcomed into their family's hearts, regardless of their sexual orientation” because love is a family value.

The video features Bollywood star and Miss India winner Celina Jaitly (she was stalked in New Zealand when she was here to film a movie). While the video’s also subtitled in English, it’s probably something that many Westerners just won’t grasp—but that’s kind of beside the point: The people that most need to get the message of such videos are not necessarily in the USA or Western Europe (for example).

In December of last year, India’s Supreme Court issued a bizarre ruling that reinstated Section 377 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), the anti-sodomy law that the British Empire imposed during the days of the Raj. Hopefully this video will help gain broader understanding in India so the law can be done away with permanently.

To make a world that's truly free and equal will take the efforts of people working in ways that are culturally appropriate for them, and that reach different audiences. This video, like the one I posted last year, is a good part of that effort.

Once again, well done to the United Nations Human Rights Human Rights Office and their Free & Equal campaign. LGBT rights are human rights; I’m very happy to see the UN promoting that simple fact.