Profiles In Courage*

Here are two articles about people who stood up against bigotry.

Armenia roiled by transgender woman’s speech in parliament
The brief address event prompted political and diplomatic squabbling, but also was hailed as a landmark step for LGBTI rights in the country.
Eurasianet
By Giorgi Lomsadze
April 10, 2019

It must have taken a lot of courage for Lilit Martirosyan to walk into the parliamentary hall, stand up before lawmakers, and make history. A transgender Armenian woman giving a speech in the country’s parliament was an unprecedented event in this socially conservative part of the world.

“I stand for tortured, raped, burnt, stabbed, killed, banished, discriminated, poor and unemployed transgender people of Armenia,” Martirosyan, an activist for transgender rights, told the lawmakers at an April 5 hearing on human rights. She went on to say that hate crimes against transgender people mostly go unpunished. “I call upon you to carry out reforms and policies to achieve gender equality, and to ensure human rights for everyone,” she said.

“As the leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, head of a family steeped in Armenian traditions and faith, I say this [transgender rights] is not going to pass,” said Gagik Tsarukyan, the head of the second-largest faction in parliament. “This is a vice and we must hide the vice as we did before.”

Her speech stirred up hate and brought out the religious right to protest the speech.

Three days later, a crowd gathered in front of the parliament, with a collection of religious figures and other social conservatives condemning the speech and, according to activists, threatening violence against sexual minorities. Some of the protesters even called for consecrating the parliamentary floor to cleanse it after Martirosyan’s speech.

The protest was rebuffed by the European Union

The EU mission in Yerevan and EU member state embassies issued a statement condemning “hate speech, including death threats directed at Ms. Lilit Martirosian, her colleagues and the LGBTI community as a whole.”

Which in return got rejected by Armenia.

---

A court in Russia seems to have gone against Putin and ruled in favor of a trans woman.

Russian court sides with transgender woman who sued employer
The ruling marks the first time that a Russian court has recognized workplace discrimination against a trans person.
NBC News
By The Associated Press
April 10, 2019

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — A court in St. Petersburg has sided with a transgender woman who has sued her employer over discrimination.

The ruling marks the first time that a Russian court has recognized workplace discrimination against a transgender person.

It is kind of amazing because there are laws (one of them is a gay propaganda law) in Russia that makes it illegal to promote LGBTQ+ rights.

---

*”Profiles In Courage” by President John F. Kennedy won the 1957 Pulitzer Prize.