An open letter to the U.S. Secretary of State, the Honorable John Kerry


Dear Secretary Kerry

Thank you for your inspiring words to the international community as we celebrate LGBT Pride around the world this month. There have been many examples of support and assistance given by your staff and the government of the United States to the struggling LGBT community in 76 countries where it is illegal to be LGBT. This stigma and persecution is also often transferred to LGBT allies.

As 100 countries celebrate IDAHOT today, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is calling for greater education to reduce the stigma and discrimination experienced by almost 50 million people living in countries (from a total 1.5 billion) where it is still illegal to be LGBT.

In his speech given in the Netherlands in the presence of the Dutch royalty, the Secretary General underlined that “For generations, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in all regions have been subjected to terrible violence on account of their sexual orientation and gender identity.”

I welcome the World Bank’s commitment to gather some empirical date on the real cost of homophobia by commissioning its first study.

It is high time we paid attention to the economic outcomes of deliberately excluding people from contributing to their own destinies through attitudes, laws and barriers to education, health and business opportunities. I am going to share two stories to illustrate how important is the Bank’s foresight in commissioning this research.

How toxic sectarianism in Ireland was transformed

I am in a meeting of 150 teenagers at the United Nations this week. Ten days ago, I listened to a group of young LGBT Ugandans who basically want the same things North American kids want.