Agenda
Ambassador Andras Simonyi, Managing Director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations
at the Johns Hopkins University’s, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Invites you to participate at an event:
“LGBT Rights: A Geostrategic Issue for Democracies”
Friday, December 6, 2013
10:00AM-12:00PM
1740 Massachusetts Ave., N.W. –Washington, DC – Kenney Auditorium
with
Elizabeth Birch, former Executive Director of HRC
Jamie Kirchick, LGBT Rights Activist & Journalist
Chloe Shwenke, Vice President of Freedom House
Donald Jensen, Resident Fellow CTR
Andras Simonyi, Moderator
LGBT rights have become a hot topic not the least because of the approaching Sochi Olympics. Since Russia implemented the pointedly anti-gay/anti-LGBT, “Anti-Propoganda Law,” it has sparked international concern for the back-sliding of democratic values, and has raised the alarm for the protection of democratic rights in general. Why have LGBT rights become a fundamental issue for our societies? Why is it a strategic issue? How do we ensure democracies include LGBT rights in the big picture so that it is considered a core value? Why is Russia a special case? What should the United States and the European Union do, and how do they respond appropriately? How can we encourage Russia to change course? How can we help protect LGBT people in Russia and elsewhere in the world? These are just a few of the questions we are searching to answer with the help of some of the most outspoken personalities of the Human Rights and LGBT community, from civil society and government.