recorded, including murders and rapes, driven by a desire to punish those seen as defying gender norms. For example in South Africa, which was the fifth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, and yet “corrective rape” is a documented form of sexual assault in which women perceived as lesbians are raped to “be cured” from their sexual orientation. Additionally, in a survey of 57 countries, approximately 1,123 murders of trans people were reported between 2008 and 2012.

Are the United Nations sufficiently engaged in protecting the human rights of LGBT people? Radical progress was made during the past 20 years, but the road ahead is still long. Potential levers of change for greater equality include marshaling allies to openly and effectively protect LGBT human rights, collecting usablethe UN Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, which pushed for the specific protection of LGBT people at the UNGA for the first time in history. The declaration stated that “human rights [must] be applied to all human beings, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity”. Only sixty-six Member States, mostly in Europe and Latin America, supported the declaration, and it was not adopted. An opposing statement followed the declaration, arguing for the right of countries to “decide on morality, public order and the general welfare in society”. Nearly sixty countries voted for the opposing statement, led by the Organization of the Islamic Conference and with the backing of the Holy See’s observer mission. Some countries refused to support either document, including the United States, Russia