By Sr. Correspondent, Antoine Craigwell

(New York, NY) - Muted, low-key and elegant were the words that best described the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) annual "Celebration of Courage" awards, held for close to 200 invited guests on Monday, Mar 30 at NYU's Kimmel Center. The awards honored a Lebanese gay and lesbian organization, a technology corporation and presented to one of the organization's own, an appreciation for work done.


 

 
Prior to the start of the evening's program, during the cocktail reception, an assortment of Lebanese hors d'oeures were served. Members of the Lavender Light Gospel Choir, dressed in black with Kente cloth sashes over their shoulders, as they heralded the beginning of the program, performed one of their signature songs. Following the choir, Carson Kressley, the television fashion savant who appeared on Queer Eye, and who was master of ceremonies for the evening said in his introduction that he values the work that IGLHRC is doing. "It allows people all over the world to be themselves. We here in the United States do not always realize that people around the world do not have the same rights as we do," he said.

A special recognition award was presented to Debbie Stevens, Group Manager, Microsoft by Patrick McMahon, representing IBM. Accepting the award on behalf of Microsoft, Stevens said her company is proud to receive the recognition and that the company has been promoting LGBT issues since 1989. With gay and lesbians at Microsoft, the company has included gender identity, domestic partner benefits, anti-discrimination policies, and advances in transgender benefits. LGBT groups at Microsoft, Stevens added, have developed contact with other groups and countries globally.

 

 
Debbie Stevens, Group Manager, Microsoft
Hossein Alizadeh, communications director, IGLHRC, then presented the Felipa De Souza Award to the Lebanese LGBT organization, Helem, which was received by the organization's national coordinator Georges Azzi.

Accepting the award, Azzi said that in Sept 2004, about 10 people gathered and started Helem, which in Arabic means "dream," as an underground movement to provide defenses against legal, social and cultural discrimination, and a safe space for LGBT people in Lebanon. When the organization started, at a time when being gay was illegal, alliances were also made with straight groups. But, after receiving support from many politicians, Helem was able to organize its first LGBT public protest in downtown Beruit and as an organization, has partnered with the government in the fight against HIV/AIDS. "For Helem, this award is extremely symbolic - it is a recognition, acceptance and support from the international LGBT community. It is through the relationships with the international community that we receive the strength to carry on. Five years ago there were no LGBT organizations in the Islamic world and now we are reaching a tipping point in the battle against discrimination in that world," he said.

Azzi said that while Helem is not flying in the face of the Islamic and Christian religious organizations, it hopes to share the lessons learnt with emerging organizations in other Islamic countries, such as Jordan and Syria. Previously known as Club Free, Helem, is registered as a non-profit organization in Quebec, Canada, with supporting groups in the United States, Australia, and France. A part of its mission is to obtain the repeal of Article 534 of the Lebanese Penal Code, which punishes "unnatural sexual intercourse," and under which gays and lesbians are prosecuted.

 

 
Paula Ettelbrick
A special acknowledgement award was presented to former executive director Paula Ettelbrick for her work with IGLHRC. Accepting the award, Ettelbrick said that when she came out in 1974 she didn't know there was anyone else like her, but eventually she found out about Stonewall, San Francisco and lesbian feminists.

She recalled recently attending an international conference of LGBT legal representatives in Los Angeles and heard many who serve in jurisprudence share their stories, including a judge who spoke about the passage of a law which has given rights to LGBT people, representatives from Guyana who are planning to challenge the country's sodomy laws, and of a woman from Ecuador who is planning to run for public office to become the country's first transgender public official. "What we do in every sense contributes to the global cause. IGLHRC helps to give people hope, it builds infrastructures and defends the issues surrounding LGBT people," she added.

 

 
Cary Alan Johnson
IGLHRC's recently appointed executive director, Cary Alan Johnson, in his remarks also recalled when he began with the organization, serving first on the Board then as a senior Africa Specialist, with an office in Johannesburg, South Africa. He said he remembered a friend who had two specific missions, one was working toward ending the violence perpetuated against LGBT people around the world, and the other still remains elusive. He mentioned recently visiting the nine men who are imprisoned in Senegal, in Penal Camp No.6, rated one of the roughest and harshest places in the country, and he promised the men that he would do whatever he could to help keep awareness of their case before the world. The nine men, he said, need a lawyer, food and when they are eventually released, a place to live, perhaps another country where they would not face stigma and discrimination.

IGHLRC, Johnson said, is working to have legislation against discrimination passed in countries and is working for expanded education in schools. He cited as a victory for all LGBT people, the 60 countries that recently ratified the United Nations declaration against discrimination. Johnson said that the work of IGLHRC and other LGBT human rights organizations are faced with a process of moving forward on issues and receiving "push back" from governments. But he said that particularly in these difficult economic times, IGLHRC would not be taking its supporters' dollars for granted. "Every time we travel to Africa or Asia, we will be doing so with you in mind as we push back," he said.

He called on everyone to assist IGLHRC to keep the many promises to the people in Iran, Iraq, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and even in Brooklyn and Washington, D.C.

The Lavender Light Gospel Choir with its 12 men and nine women performed another of their songs to bring the hour and a half awards presentation to a close.