Non-Profit Soapbox

The State Department named former U.S. Ambassador Michael Guest, who also serves as a Senior Advisor to the Council, as the head of the U.S. delegation to an upcoming human rights conference in Warsaw, Poland in October.  At this annual human rights meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which includes Eastern and Western Europe and North America, the United States will be speak out against violations of the rights to freedom of speech and association, while also highlighting patterns of extreme violence against minority communities, including the increasingly well-documented trend in LGBT violence and hate crime across the region.  This is the first time that the United States has included an openly gay advocate on its official delegation to the OSCE to address these alarming human rights trends.

Last year was the first year that the United States raised concerns over LGBT violence at this annual human rights meeting, which often focuses on issues of discrimination and seeks to highlight appropriate responses to promote tolerance in the region.  While he will not be representing the Council or focusing exclusively on LGBT-related human rights concerns at the meeting, the State Department’s decision to ask Michael Guest to lead the delegation nonetheless lends significant diplomatic weight to efforts by the OSCE to examine the causes, consequences and trends in regional violence against LGBT individuals.

view the OSCE press annoucement

read opening remarks on hate crimes / discriminationas as delivered by Amb. Michael Guest

read Amb. Michael Guests Right of Reply on tolerance