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Wednesday, 26 March 2008 09:48
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 Atlanta Pride Takes Part in
Emory's Human Rights Week
Explaining how the battle for gay and lesbian rights fits into the global struggle for human rights is the goal of a display and discussion that is part of the annual Human Rights Week opening today at Emory University.
The Human Rights Display debuted during the Atlanta Pride Festival last year and calls attention to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and explains how the struggle for gay and lesbian dignity and equality is also a human rights struggle. Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 that consists of 30 articles outlining the human rights guaranteed to all people, is also the central them of the Human Rights Week events.
"Atlanta Pride is committed to gay and lesbian rights specifically but is also concerned about human rights in general and how the two are related," says Cain Williamson, Atlanta Pride's Human Rights Committee Chair. "Pride is a celebration of global gay success and a remembrance of unresolved global gay issues. And both locally and globally, the struggle for gay equality is intertwined with the struggle for human rights."
Human Rights Week at Emory, which started in 2001, is designed to inform and inspire action around human rights and draws on Atlanta's history as the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement. Event organizers hope to show how that historic struggle fits into the larger issue of global human rights and apply lessons learned locally to the larger movement.
"We need to develop an understanding that the Civil Rights Movement is part of a larger international human rights movement that consists of political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights outlined in the Universal Declaration," says Laura Emiko Soltis, an organizer of Human Rights Week. "Our goal is to engage the community and continue the dialogue of how these rights are both interdependent and inalienable and indeed necessary to secure the well-being and self-determination of all."
A civil rights icon, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, joins Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin today at 7 p.m. to open Human Rights Week with a discussion about student activists. Franklin is scheduled to deliver the keynote address, while Lewis joins a panel discussion. The event takes place at Harland Cinema inside Dobbs University Center.
On Tuesday, highlights include a death penalty photo exhibit and presentation by photographer Scott Langley. Laura Moye, Southern Regional Deputy Director for Amnesty International, also joins the discussion, which begins at 7 p.m. in White Hall. A discussion about Guantanamo Bay is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Gambrell Hall Room of Emory Law School.
On Wednesday, gay and lesbian rights will be discussed during an event at Dobbs University Center that begins at 12 p.m. Lobbying at the State Capitol over women's reproductive health is scheduled for 9 a.m. Other events include panel discussions about sex trafficking in Atlanta at 4 p.m. and domestic violence at 7:30 p.m.
On Thursday, environmental justice and health inequalities take center stage with the screening of "Unnatural Causes" and a panel discussion in Harland Cinema at 7 p.m.
Events close on Friday with a Human Rights Festival that features the theme of labor rights and globalization with speakers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. The festival runs from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Asbury Circle.
The Atlanta Pride Festival takes place July 4-6 at the Atlanta Civic Center. With a theme of "Your Vote, Your Rights, Your Future," the event is expected to draw tens of thousands of people to the city. The festival recently unveiled its logo for the 2008 event, which blends the American and Pride flags to illustrate that gay men and lesbians are a vital part of the fabric of the U.S. landscape.
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