Policy students shift focus to international LBGTQ issues
When University of Maryland public policy graduate students Andrew Reighart, Brianna January and Lauren Stark applied to organize the second annual Saul I. Stern Symposium, they focused on a lesser-known issue: LGBTQ policy issues across the globe.
“We really wanted to raise the profile about issues that are not raised in the United States that much,” Reighart, a second-year master’s public policy student who co-hosted the April 29 conference. “LGBTQ issues are already not talked about as much in the United States, but the international adds an additional layer.”
Reighart said he was inspired to compete for the opportunity after attending last year’s symposium on disability policies.
“I found the program to be very enlightening,” said Reighart. “So when the application came out again this year, my friend Brianna [January] and my friend Lauren [Stark] decided to try and put our own event together.”
Reighart said that while Americans know of LGBTQ marriage equality, there is less of a spotlight on global policy, which he, January and Stark hoped to focus on.
After a keynote speech by Todd Larson, Senior LGBT coordinator at USAID, attendees participated in panel lectures on new international political rights issues and the experiences of LGBTQ-identifying people in human trafficking and sex trades.
Panelist Hannah Hussey from the Center for American Progress said she thought the event helped students focus on the problems LGBTQ people around the world face, besides the issues Americans see in the headlines every day.
“I think there was a lot of really great attention to the underlying causes of people who are facing exploitative or vulnerable situations as well as family rejection and abusive systems of care,” said Hussey.
Hussey and her fellow panelists discussed the exploitation of LGBTQ people around the world.
Panelists explained that this vulnerability comes from discrimination that can lead to a lack of basic amenities and services needed to survive.
“Lack of economic opportunities, a barrier to accessing social services, social stigma related to sex work, and the criminalized and law enforcement approach…makes it difficult to improve their situation,” said Harper Jean Tobin, policy director at the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Tobin said that some U.S. policies, like improvements in a foster care system that has caused many LGBTQ kids onto the streets, are heading in the right direction.
“The federal government has really invested in efforts to research and change that problem and make it more accepting and supportive,” Tobin explained.
Students like Senior Jewish studies major Shifra Erez, found it exciting to be able to learn more about international LGBTQ policy from experts.
“I’m interested in these issues in general and I’ve realized I learn a lot more from these events where I get to see lots of speakers,” Erez said. “So I’ve tried to make it a priority to go to these events where I can learn from really interesting people.”
Tobin said one of the best ways to change policy is to listen to those affected by discrimination.
“I would encourage folks to listen to voices of sex workers, to volunteer at local communities that serve, to think about how they can combat social stigmas that … we can all help to overcome.”
