Speakers Boyan Konstantinov and Luiza Veado talk with students.
NEW YORK – Students from Valley high schools got the chance last week to hear from United Nations experts on LGBT issues around the world.
On Thursday (March 28), about fifty students packed onto a bus at Ansonia High School and rode down to New York City, where they took a tour of the United Nations.
Students saw historical artifacts, including a statue that survived an atomic bomb blast and collections donated by countries around the world.
After students had a catered lunch, Luiza Veado and Boyan Konstantinov, who both work on global LGBT issues at the United Nations, sat down for a Q&A session about their work.
Veado, an attorney, works for Outright International, a United Nations organization that leads LGBT advocacy programs in 177 countries. She talked to students about the status of LGBT rights in countries ranging from the Caribbean to southeast Asia.
Konstantinov works as an HIV policy specialist. He told students about strides that have been made in global access to HIV care in recent decades and recounted stories about facing homophobia in his home country of Bulgaria.
Ansonia High students at the United Nations.
Students asked the speakers about their careers and how they got where they are – and weren’t afraid to engage the experts on policy questions.
“Do you think that the success of the queer liberation movement can be achieved through solely legal means,” one student asked, “or is there also a social aspect that has to be done on a community level?”
Both Veado and Konstantinov responded by talking about the work that organizations like the United Nations are able to do, but stressed that any change has to come from inside communities – not just applied from outside.
“Historically, the processes go in parallel,” Konstantinov said. “So changing hearts and minds is as important as changing laws.”
Another student asked how to confront prejudice when it seems like those hearts and minds can’t be changed. Veado said to keep at it, and to keep having direct conversations in the face of prejudice.
“There is empirical evidence for hope. Things are changing, so I think that that’s how you keep your composure,” Veado said.
The trip was funded by a grant from the It Gets Better Project. Click here for a story on how students from Ansonia High School’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance applied for that grant.
Ansonia High students were also able to invite students from other schools, including Emmett O’Brien, Amity Regional, and New Haven’s Metropolitan Business Academy.
This is the second year in a row that Ansonia High School received the grant. Last year, it funded a conference at the school that was attended by other schools throughout the Valley.
To learn more about the It Gets Better Project, visit their website at www.itgetsbetter.org. The state government website also has a portal for LGBTQ resources in Connecticut, including community groups and healthcare providers.
Students learn at the United Nations' Human Rights Wall.
