“In the face of the grave threat posed by HIV/AIDS, we have to rise above our differences and combine our efforts to save our people,” he said. However, by 2000 when he offered the closing remarks at the 13th International AIDS Conference, Nelson Mandela was a unifying leader who called politicians, scientists and the global community to action. Ultimately considered a transformative leader in the fight to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Mandela was initially criticized for his lack of attention to HIV when he first took office. As we continue the long fight for justice for all LGBT people, and all people, it will be important, as Dennis Parker reminds us, “to remember this man who, like a modern David, faced the Goliath of discrimination and oppression and changed the world.”Įnding the AIDS Epidemic. Another reported that as many as 45 percent of homeless youth are LGBT-identified. A recent report by the Movement Advancement Project found that LGBT workers of color are at a significant risk of being unemployed and living in poverty. Today in the United States, many LGBT people, particularly LGBT people of color, are living in poverty, struggling with unemployment and facing pervasive discrimination. Our movements for equality and justice must follow his guidance. Nelson Mandela saw these connections and believed that “overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity an act of justice.” For Mandela, the fight to end poverty and realize racial justice was fundamental. The LGBT movement is a movement for racial and economic justice, as well as a movement for formal equality. But Nelson Mandela’s legacy for the LGBT community goes far beyond the formal legal protections he marshaled.
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This ultimately resulted in the national repeal of bans on military service by gay and lesbian people and a 2005 decision by the South African high court extending marriage protections to same-sex couples. Under his leadership, the South African constitution included sexual orientation and gender among the enumerated classes protected from discrimination. When Nelson Mandela was elected President of post-apartheid South Africa in 1994, he stood in solidarity with his LGBT friends and fellow citizens. For lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, people living with HIV/AIDS and those fighting for justice for our communities, Nelson Mandela’s leadership and lessons should continue to guide our work.įormal Equality. In death Mandela was beloved by all, but in life he had to fight for survival under a regime of globally supported racial apartheid and spent 27 years in prison as a political prisoner. On Thursday, the world mourned the death of former South African President and anti-apartheid freedom fighter Nelson Mandela.
#GAY PRIDE QUOTES PRESIDENT FREE#
"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." - Nelson Mandela