Standing up for LGBTI rights this Pride month

June is Pride month – when at UNI Global Union we celebrate gender and sexual diversity as well as the achievements towards a more just world. We also remember that the Pride celebration has its roots in resistance.

On 28 June 1969, the New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn as an ongoing campaign of violence and harassment against LGBTI communities. The uprising that came after resonated globally, establishing a new movement in defence of LGBTI rights, but the struggle is far from over. Homosexuality remains illegal in 64 countries and attacks on LGBT people continue worldwide.

Only last month in Uganda, the extreme, abhorrent 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill was passed into law, which imposes the death penalty for certain same sex acts, and increases the prison sentence for an attempt at same-sex conduct to ten years.

In 2022, violence against LGBTI people reached its highest point in the past decade in Europe and Central Asia, according to a report released in February by the European International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.

State legislatures have introduced roughly 420 anti-LGBTI bills across the United States since the start of 2023 – double the amount in all of last year. Many of bills seek to deny transgender youth gender-affirming care.

At UNI we believe in the need of creating economies with a human centre approach, where all workers, irrespective of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity are protected and heard. LGBTI rights are human rights and LGBTphobia is not a trade union value.

This pride month join our affiliates across the world in celebrating diversity and in fighting discrimination. For more information and resources go to the global union LGBTI worker rights page.