LGBT movements
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Although there is not a primary or an overarching central organization that represents all LGBT people and their interests, numerous LGBT rights organizations are active worldwide. The first organization to promote LGBT rights was the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, founded in 1897 in Berlin.[4]
A commonly stated goal among these movements is equal rights for LGBT people, often focusing on specific goals such as ending the criminalization of homosexuality or enacting same-sex marriage. Others have focused on building LGBT communities or worked towards liberation for the broader society from biphobia, homophobia, and transphobia. LGBT movements organized today are made up of a wide range of political activism and cultural activity, including lobbying, street marches, social groups, media, art, and research.
LGBT and human rights[edit]
Some people worry that gay rights conflict with individuals' freedom of speech,[129][130][131] religious freedoms in the workplace,[132][133] and the ability to run churches,[134] charitable organizations[135][136] and other religious organizations[137] that hold opposing social and cultural views to LGBT rights. There is also concern that religious organizations might be forced to accept and perform same-sex marriages or risk losing their tax-exempt status.[138][139][140][141]
Freedom of religion may, however, also protect LGBT people. As pointed out at the United Nations Human Rights Council in the 2023 formal report of the United Nations Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity on the basis of the explanation in a 2020 article by human rights expert Dag Øistein Endsjø, adherents of denominations and belief systems who embrace LGBT-equality "can claim that anti-LGBT manifestations of religion (such as criminalization and discrimination) not only impinge upon the right of LGBT people to be free from violence and discrimination based on SOGI [sexual orientation and gender identity], but also violate the [pro-LGBT] denominations' own rights of freedom of religion". As pointed out in this article, freedom of religion also generally protects LGBT people against religious oppression, as freedom of religion also protects the “freedom ... not to hold religious beliefs and ... not to practise a religion”.[142] As the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief noted in 2017, “in certain States where religion has been given ‘official’ or privileged status, other fundamental rights of individuals – especially women, religious minorities and members of the LGBTI community – are disproportionately restricted or vitiated under threat of sanctions as a result of obligatory observation of State-imposed religious orthodoxy.”[143]