The Global Arc of Justice: Sexual Orientation Law Around the World

Convened by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, International Lesbian and Gay Law Association (ILGLaw), and the City of West Hollywood

Important Reminders:

Early Registration Deadline (extended): February 15, 2009 (see Registration page for details)

Hotel Conference Rate Deadline (extended): February 15, 2009 (see Hotel & Travel Info page)

The Global Arc of Justice Conference will be a four-day international conference focused on advances in LGBT rights around the globe. Convened by the Williams Institute, a research center on sexual orientation and gender identity law and policy at UCLA Law; the International Lesbian and Gay Law Association (ILGLaw); and the City of West Hollywood; the conference will be held from March 11-14 on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles and in West Hollywood, California. The conference will offer simultaneous translation in English and Spanish.

Topics covered at the Global Arc of Justice Conference will include international efforts to advance legal recognition for same sex couples; the repeal of sodomy laws in former British Colonies; efforts by national governments to end homophobia and advance LGBT equality; implementation of the Yogyakarta Principles in litigation strategies and legal scholarship; and advancement of the rights of transgender people. Conference activities will include strategy working groups, paper presentations, plenary sessions, and various networking opportunities and celebrations.

The Global Arc of Justice Conference will cover developments in LGBT rights from all parts of the world, but will have a special focus on Latin America. Of the over 90 paper and presentation proposals received so far, over 40% have been submitted by presenters from Latin America and over 50% are from the Global South. Presentations will include developments and challenges in countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, and Nicaragua. Conference sessions exploring LGBT issues in Latin America include

The Global Arc of Justice Conference will be very much a working conference. The program will include working groups of experts and activists who will focus on effective strategies for addressing specific issues in advancing LGBT rights. The working group members will then share and broaden their discussion with the entire conference through a series of plenary panels. The conference's overarching goals are to strengthen global alliances and share strategies for advancing LGBT equality throughout the world.

More than 300 speakers and attendees will participate in the conference, including academics, litigators, judges, public officials, advocates, students, and members of the community. The conference will seek to integrate knowledge from those who have sought legal and policy reform through various methods, including litigation, legislative efforts, research and scholarship, education campaigns, and leadership development programs. We hope you can join us at the conference.

Justice Eugenio Raul Zaffaroni, Argentina Supreme Court

Justice Michael Donald Kirby, High Court of Australia

Presiding Justice Carol W. Hunstein, Supreme Court of Georgia

Justice Virgina L. Linder, Supreme Court of Oregon

Justice Patricio M. Serna, Supreme Court of New Mexico

Dr. Jorge Saavedra, General Director, Mexican Ministry of Health's National Center for Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS

Judge Karen Atala, Chilean judge denied custody of her children by Chile's Supreme Court-case currently with the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Germán Rincón Perfetti, Director, ILGLaw South America, Human Rights Lawyer, Colombia

Peter Ashman, Executive Director, INTERIGHTS

Boris Dittrich, Former Member of the Parliament, the Netherlands, Advocacy Director, LBGT Rights Program, Human Rights Watch

Tatiana Cordero, human rights lawyer in Ecuador, Executive Director of Corporation Promotion de la Mujer/Taller de Comunicacion de la Mujer

Sonia Corréa, Research Associate, Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA), Co-Chair, Sexuality Policy Watch

Aeyal M. Gross, Professor of Law, Tel-Aviv University Faculty of Law & Vice President, ILGLaw Tamara Adrián Hernandez, Professor of Law, University of Caracas, Director, ILGLaw South America

Marcelo Ernesto Ferreyra, Coordinator del Programa para America Latina y el Caribe de la Comision Internacional de los Derechos Humanos para Gays y Lesbianas, IGLHRC

Mauro Cabral, Professor, National University of Cordoba

Marcela Romero, Regional Coordinator, Latin American and Caribbean Network of Transgender People

Hari Phyual, Human Rights Attorney in Nepal, International Commission of Jurists

Richard Green, Professor, Imperial College Faculty of Medicine

Alice Miller, Lecturer in Residence, Senior Fellow, Thelton E. Hender Center for Social Justice, Boalt Hall

Lee Badgett, Professor of Economics, U. Mass.-Amherst/The Williams Institute

Andrés Duque, creator of blabbeando.blogspot.com, Latino Commission on AIDS

Douglas Elliott, Partner, Roy Elliott O'Connor LLP, Past President, ILGLaw

Gary J. Gates, Senior Research Fellow, The Williams Institute

Nan Hunter, Professor of Law, Georgetown Law/ The Williams Institute

Karon Monaghan, Director, ILGLaw Europe, JD, Attorney at Law

Andrew Park, Senior Philanthropic Advisor, Wellspring Advisors

Clifford J. Rosky, Associate Professor, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law

Hiroyuki Taniguchi, Research Associate, Waseda University, Japan

Omar Banos, AIDS Project Los Angeles

David B. Cruz, Professor of Law, USC School of Law & President, ILGLaw

Paula Ettelbrick, Executive Director, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

Stefano Fabeni, Director, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Initiative of Global Rights, Director, ILGLaw Information and Research

Helmut Graupner, Co-Coordinator, European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL), Director, ILGLaw Europe

John Heilman, West Hollywood City Councilmember

Holning Lau, Associate Professor of Law, Hofstra Law

Darren Rosenblum, Associate Professor of Law, Pace Law School

Lara Stemple, Director of Graduate Studies, UCLA School of Law

Monica Taher, Azteca America

Brad Sears, Executive Director, The Williams Institute

Douglas Sanders, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Law, University of British Colombia, Vancouver, Canada, LL.M. Professor, Chulalongkorn University

Saúl Sarabia, Lecture and Director of Critical Race Studies Program, UCLA School of Law

Kees Waaldijk, Faculty of Law, Leiden University

Robert Wintemute, Professor of Human Rights Law, King's College London

Evan Wolfson, Executive Director, Freedom to Marry

IGLHRC believes that a vital part of our mission is supporting the work of activist organizations and allies by disseminating important information on human rights issues affecting LGBT communities worldwide. To this end we are reposting the following announcement from one of our partners.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) is a leading human rights organization solely devoted to improving the rights of people around the world who are targeted for imprisonment, abuse or death because of their sexuality, gender identity or HIV/AIDS status. IGLHRC addresses human rights violations by partnering with and supporting activists in countries around the world, monitoring and documenting human rights abuses, engaging offending governments, and educating international human rights officials. A non-profit, non-governmental organization, IGLHRC is based in New York, with offices in Cape Town and Buenos Aires. Visit http://www.iglhrc.org for more information

executive_director@iglhrc.org
phone: 212-268-8040
web: http://www.iglhrc.org

Media Contact: Hossein Alizadeh, 212-430-6016, halizadeh@iglhrc.org

The Mission of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission is to secure the full enjoyment of human rights of all people and communities subject to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation or expression, gender identity or expression and/or HIV status.

Reproduced with permission - "INTERNATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION (IGLHRC)"