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From Pulse to Policy: How the UN Can Address Global Gun Violence Against LGBTQ Communities
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Just a few weeks ago marked the eighth anniversary of the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre, when a man entered a gay nightclub in Orlando, USA, and shot 49 people to death. Seeing the deaths of so many queer people murdered in a space they had created to be safe to be themselves had a profound impact on me. I was not yet “out” as bisexual to my three brothers, despite my loving and close relationships with each of them. As the death count from Pulse rolled in, it dawned on me that I wanted my brothers to know that I was part of the queer community, that these were “my people,” and, frankly, that I was part of a population that is violently targeted, including by firearms. I came out to my brothers shortly after that. I wish my coming out to them had been motivated by the joy of loving someone rather than by a solidarity emboldened by fear and grief, but that’s my story.
While the actual motivation for the Pulse nightclub massacre has since been questioned, the fact remains that LGBTQ people are time and again targeted in attacks entirely because of their sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions. In February 2023, Aldinebin Ramos, a well-known queer peacebuilder and the co-founder of the Association LGBTQ+ Chaparrel Diversa in Colombia, was gunned down in his home. In June 2022, two people were killed and eight others taken to hospital when a man opened fire at a bar that describes itself as “the largest gay and lesbian venue in Oslo”, Norway. Oslo’s annual pride march was subsequently canceled. In May 2020, after receiving multiple online homophobic death threats, a 27-year-old gay man watched four men abduct, beat, and murder his boyfriend with five gunshots in an area west of Baghdad, Iraq. This violence against LGBTQ people is a form of gender-based violence: violence which seeks to punish LGBTQ people for not living up to gender stereotypes and norms dictating their appearance, behavior, and attraction to others. Like violence against women, violence against LGBTQ people must be addressed with solutions that recognize the dangerous and deadly manifestations of patriarchy, misogyny, and fear of difference.
The widespread gun violence against LGBTQ people around the world was on my mind from June 18 - 28 as I attended a United Nations conference on firearms-related issues. The Fourth Review Conference (RevCon4) on the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects (PoA) convened UN member states and civil society to discuss illegally trafficked firearms.
When the General Assembly passed the PoA in 2001, it did not reference gender. However, over the past 23 years, UN documents and dialogues have acknowledged that firearms are commonly used to perpetrate gender-based violence and have differential impacts based on gender.
During RevCon4, 61 member states made a joint statement on gender calling for member states to retain gender-related language in the RevCon4 outcome document, including language pertaining to mainstreaming gender and youth perspectives into policies and addressing barriers to the full, equal, meaningful, and effective participation and representation of women in decision-making. In its opening statement, Canada called for an intersectional feminist approach, including LGBTQ+ perspectives, in discussions on small arms and light weapons. Mexico said data should be disaggregated by gender and sexual orientation to understand empirically the effects these weapons have on different groups of people.
At the same time, there was a heated debate on whether to adopt language that highlighted intersectional identities and diverse women. In an early version of the RevCon4 outcome document, there were several references to women or women and men “in all their diversity.” Acknowledging this diversity is important because men and women do not exist in a single homogenous group. Language referring to “women in all their diversity” provides space to address the specific needs of, for example, women with disabilities or indigenous women. Diversity also speaks to the needs of people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Because language like “women in all their diversity” can be read as inclusive of people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, and sex characteristics, it is sometimes coded at the UN as a challenge to a strict gender binary and attendant heterosexuality. Some UN member states consistently attempt to remove it. In RevCon4, countries including Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran spoke out to remove the language on diversity. While some countries voiced support for this language, it was ultimately removed from the outcome document, as part of the complex process of language negotiating carried out by diplomats, often trading language in different areas and frequently seeking consensus.
Similarly, member states attempted to remove language calling for data to be disaggregated by sex and gender, advocating instead to keep only “sex” or “gender,” not both. These member states argued that sex and gender were the same and, therefore, the language was redundant. In fact, these terms have different definitions: sex refers to physical characteristics, while gender refers to the roles, norms, and expectations mapped onto those characteristics. If only one of the two terms is used, “gender” is a more helpful category to disaggregate data by in this context, as people are more likely to be targeted by firearms due to gender norms mapped onto their sex than due to their sex alone. Disappointingly, the outcome document removed “gender” and maintained “sex.”
Despite these setbacks, the RevCon4 outcome document does contain provisions that can help stem firearm violence perpetrated against LGBTQ people. The outcome document recommended that data on these weapons be disaggregated by categories including “sex, age, disability, and other characteristics relevant in national contexts” to “inform evidence-based gender-responsive policymaking and programming.” Including “other characteristics relevant in national contexts” allows data to be disaggregated by sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. The provision can be used by civil society to advocate for data to be collected that will help prevent violence perpetrated against queer communities.
The RevCon4 outcome document also spoke to the root causes of violence against women and LGBTQ persons by highlighting the importance of addressing “gender roles, norms and expectations for women and men to acquire illicit arms” which contributes to “preventing and combating gender-based and sexual violence and conflict-related sexual violence.” This speaks to the deep societal change that needs to happen if we are to prevent this violence.
There are upcoming opportunities for UN member states to address gun violence against LGBTQ people. In August 2024, State parties to the Arms Trade Treaty will meet to discuss its implementation. During the General Assembly session beginning in September 2024, member states will likely adopt two resolutions on small arms and light weapons. In October 2024, member states have the opportunity to discuss the impact of small arms and light weapons during conflict in the Security Council’s open debate on Women, Peace, and Security. In 2025, member states will gather to discuss the implementation of the Global Framework for Through-life Conventional Ammunition Management. Discussions and outcome documents from these meetings should include all people, including LGBTQ persons.
In high-level meetings at the UN, it is easy to feel distanced from the realities of the subjects under discussion. Language like “disaggregated data’' and “small arms and light weapons” seem abstract and disconnected from real life. But let’s be clear about what is at stake here: people are being killed by guns because of who they are and who they love. The UN provides multiple platforms to condemn such violence against LGBTQ people and recommend solutions. Member states have an obligation to step up and speak out for LGBTQ lives.
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