Chicagoans got a chance to talk LGBT rights with the man responsible for the passage of the world's first same-sex marriage bill Oct. 10.
Boris Dittrich, former Dutch lawmaker and current advocacy director of the Human Rights Watch LGBT program spoke at special breakfast presentation at Center on Halsted.
The openly gay legislator made history in 2001 when the same-sex marriage bill he introduced in the Netherlands became law.
Dittrich discussed what led him into LGBT advocacy in the interview-style chat with Jobi Cates, Midwest and Chicago region director at Human Rights Watch.
It was Harvey Milk who first inspired Dittrich to take up LGBT issues, he said.
In 1975, an18-year-old Dittrich hitchhiked to San Francisco from Ohio, where he was studying abroad. A group of gay Scandinavian men introduced Dittrich and his girlfriend at the time to a San Francisco gay activist.
"All of the sudden, he turned to me and said, 'You, you are gay,'" Dittrich recalled.
Years later, Dittrich happened upon a documentary about the assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and gay activist Harvey Milk.
"The first image I saw of this documentary was this man that outed me, and that was Harvey Milk," said Dittrich.
Dittrich took it as a sign that he was supposed to advocate for LGBT people.
That work has taken Dittrich from the Netherlands to countries across the globe.
Dittrich discussed efforts to fight Uganda's anti-gay bill, which many have referred to as the "Kill the Gays Bill" because it allowed that homosexuality could be punishable by death.
Dittrich blamed foreign Evangelical activists for supporting the bill, stating that he has seen an influx of anti-gay activists in the country.
Dittrich encouraged LGBT advocates to build coalitions across countries and across political movements to combat such efforts.
"Our message is that LGBT rights are human rights," he said.
Still he said, disparities between countries create challenges for advocates. In Europe, Canada and the U.S., he said, activists want to discuss same-sex marriage and the end of the military's ban on openly gay service members. In other parts of the world, however, activists are still pushing for the decriminalization of homosexuality.
"In most parts of the world, we are talking about physical integrity," he said.
According to Dittrich, countries resist decriminalizing homosexuality because they worry that same-sex marriage will follow, resulting in a continual shrinkage of the population.
Dittrich said LGBT activists need to be reaching out to people who may not be supportive of LGBT rights, in addition to motivation those who are already allies. And when it comes to LGBT equality, he said, activists should not hesitate to ask mom for a little help.
"Straight mothers are the best allies because everybody trusts mothers," he said.
Approximately 40 people attended the morning talk.
