Beyond our borders.

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1999, a neofascist group planted a bomb in the Amnesty International office. No one was arrested or charged with the attack, and the group continues to threaten the lives of activists working for the rights of gays and lesbians, blacks, and Jews in that country. In Lebanon the manager of an Internet service provider for a gay Web site and the director of a Lebanese human rights organization were recently arraigned before a military court and charged with "tarnishing the reputation of the vice squad." They had issued a flyer protesting the vice squad's raid of the service provider's office. They face up to three years and three months in prison. And in Guatemala City, two transgendered people were murdered this summer--bringing the total number of transgender murders in that city to six this year. Police there have subjected transgendered people to systematic abuse, including threats, harassment, and rape--and are suspected of complicity in the murders that have taken place.

As we round out yet another national election campaign in the United States, renewing our commitment to fighting for GLBT rights in this country, many of our sisters and brothers abroad face a much bleaker situation. From Argentina to Zimbabwe, theirs is a much greater struggle to secure recognition and protection of their fundamental human rights.

Millions of GLBT people around the world cannot even imagine the possibility of coming out, fearful that the revelation of their true identity will result in scorn and persecution. Their fear is warranted. Not only are those suspected of being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered subjected to regular harassment, harsh discrimination, and violence from other citizens; in many countries people may be beaten, imprisoned, and sometimes even killed by their own government for engaging in homosexual acts.

GLBT people in America understand the fear that makes others live behind a wall of secrecy because we have all experienced it on some level. Growing up in a small town in southwestern Michigan, I felt that sense of shame and fear that my own secret uniqueness would be discovered.

I also remember from a very early age being offended by injustices perpetrated against anyone who was perceived as different, whether they were from other countries or ethnic and racial minorities in our own country. I never dreamed that my convictions would lead to my working with the largest human rights organization in the world, Amnesty International, directing the Outfront program, which focuses on international GLBT rights violations.

When I now reflect on why I was so interested in other cultures, injustice, and this whole notion of difference, I believe it was in part a way of beginning to recognize the difference in myself--and most likely also the desire to escape my small corner of the world, where I felt trapped and isolated. I now not only recognize and take pride in being gay but also realize that there is no escape from the injustice and violence we face on a daily basis and that we must work together to make the whole world a safe and tolerant place--including the small corner where I grew up.

The GLBT community is a microcosm of the larger global community. We should see our rights as grounded in the basic human rights of all people, that our identity overall is human, not just GLBT. As such, we must learn to see beyond the borders in our minds, whatever those borders might be. This means we care as much about the torture and rape of a lesbian couple in a Brazilian jail or the execution of men accused of sodomy by the government of Afghanistan as we do about the rampage in Roanoke, Va. We need to protest the hate murder of a transgendered person in Harlem or Guatemala as quickly as we do the brutal killing of a young college student in Wyoming. When we see GLBT rights as grounded in human rights, we recognize our struggle as inextricably linked to the overall human rights struggle. In this way our demand for tolerance and respect can also acknowledge our connection to all humanity.

Heflin is director of Amnesty International's Outfront program.