Tutu to receive international gay award

25 Mar 2008- Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been named the recipient of a prestigious award by the New York-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

The IGLHRC will present its 2008 Outspoken Award as part of the organization's A Celebration of Courage human rights ceremony on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

Since 1990 the IGLHRC has documented and fought human rights abuses faced by LGBT people and groups around the world.

"There is really only one name in the world that immediately conjures up moral leadership in pursuit of dignity for all people on earth, and that is Desmond Tutu," said Paula Ettelbrick, IGLHRC's Executive Director. 

"Archbishop Tutu's vision of a world in which human rights are respected has always explicitly included LGBT people, despite the fierce opposition he has faced from his peers and colleagues. He has challenged political apartheid in South Africa and continues to challenge spiritual apartheid within his religious community."

Archbishop Tutu became a leading moral voice in the crusade for justice and racial conciliation in South Africa. 

In 1984, he received a Nobel Peace Prize to recognize his extraordinary contributions to the struggle against apartheid. 

He was elected Bishop of Johannesburg in 1985, and promoted to Archbishop of Cape Town the following year. As Archbishop, he became a principal mediator and conciliator in the transition to democracy in South Africa. In 1995, President Nelson Mandela appointed him Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a body set up to probe gross human rights violations that occurred under apartheid.

Archbishop Tutu has vocally challenged discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In a 2004 article in The Times of London, he condemned persecution on the basis of sexual orientation, comparing it to apartheid. 

"We struggled against apartheid in South Africa, supported by people the world over, because black people were being blamed and made to suffer for something we could do nothing about-our very skins," he wrote. "It is the same with sexual orientation. It is a given. I could not have fought against the discrimination of apartheid and not also fight against the discrimination that homosexuals endure, even in our churches and faith groups."

He has been a vocal opponent of punishing the American branch of his own Anglican Church over the ordination of an openly gay bishop - Gene Robinson in New Hampshire.

"Archbishop Tutu's decision to address our community while in the United States signals the rise in status that LGBT communities around the world are achieving," said Ettelbrick.

"This is a historic opportunity for LGBT people in the US to connect with a leader who plays a monumental role in world events," she said. "And, our community can play a key role in pushing our US leaders to take more responsible and ethical positions on the when it comes to human rights violations within our own country and around the world."

At the same event the IBM Corporation will receive IGLHRC's special recognition award for its contributions to IGLHRC's global mission of building a strong and viable LGBT human rights movement and for its leadership in promoting non-discrimination policies in all of its workplaces in the world.

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