 Welcome to today's interactive web chat in honor of Pride Month, a month celebrating the contributions and resilience of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex community in the United States and around the world. This conversation feels even more important today after the tragedy at a dance club in Orlando. Our thoughts are with those in Florida and around the world who are grieving. The theme of this discussion is using policy, advocacy, and storytelling to advance LGBTI rights. This is the second of two live web chats we're hosting today here at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. I'm Mark Bromley, a human rights lawyer and chair of the Council for Global Equality, a civil society coalition that promotes equality and opportunity for LGBTI individuals globally. I'll be your moderator today. This is an important time to have a conversation on international LGBTI rights. While there has been a lot of progress in recent years, enormous challenges persist, particularly related to hate crime prevention and anti-discrimination. One way to address these problems is to create a forum for dialogue, such as this, to encourage open discussion about these topics. Here to answer your questions are Randy Barry, Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons at the U.S. Department of State, LGBTI Advocate Jason Marsden, and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and director of the Matt Shepherd is a friend of mine documentary, Michelle Joshua. We are also joined by 38 groups representing every region of the world, including one coordinated through the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik, Iceland, who we will introduce in a moment. So we are very happy to have a diverse set of voices participating in the conversation today. Before we get started, I just want to mention that if you have questions that you would like our panel to address, please ask them in the chat space next to the video player or on Twitter using the hashtag LGBTI rights. We'll try to answer as many of your questions as possible, and we will also provide links to resources. So with that, Special Envoy Barry, can you briefly explain your role and what you've encountered during your first year on the job, traveling the world, and working to address some of these critical issues? Yes, good morning or good afternoon, Mark, and hello to all of our viewers who are joining around the world. Before responding to your question, Mark, I might also just take a moment to note the terrible tragedy, obviously, that has us all reeling here in the community and more broadly in the United States. You know, the attack obviously raises major issues about the well-being of LGBT persons. What we face in the U.S. often is inextricably linked to what we see around the world. So our thoughts and moreover our rededication to working on behalf of this community is increased. You know, Mark, it's been a real pleasure for the last year I've had working in this position as Special Envoy to travel around the world, to have a chance to engage with governments, to engage with leaders in civil society, to engage with leaders in business and communities of faith and others to really further this conversation about what real equality and dignity under the law means. So, you know, we have engaged in 43 countries in the last 14 months, including places where criminalization remains intact, to countries that are somewhere in the middle, to those countries who have seen great progress well before my own country managed to get onto this agenda. So it's been a real pleasure to get a sense, and I will share that the events of this weekend in Orlando notwithstanding, I come away knowing that there is more hope and more light in this world than there is darkness and challenge. Thank you for that. Following the anti-gay, bias-motivated murder of their son Matthew, Judy and Dennis Shepard turned their grief into action by creating the Matthew Shepard Foundation to campaign and champion the causes of LGBTI equality, social justice, and diversity awareness and education. Jason Marsden is the Executive Director of the organization. Jason, welcome. Tell us a bit about the work you do and some of your experiences working on LGBTI issues abroad. The Matthew Shepard Foundation works in four ways primarily. First and foremost, Judy and Dennis Shepard travel the country and increasingly now the world, spreading a message of understanding compassion and acceptance in support of all diversity and all minorities whose rights are threatened, and in particular, LGBTQI individuals because of their deep passion to continue their son's legacy. Additionally, we have a, I think, groundbreaking program to improve the reporting of and prevention of hate crimes here in the United States and where we can interface with those abroad to do so as well. Crimes are a solvable problem, and we're dedicated to trying to make sure no other parents experience what Judy and Dennis did. We also support productions of the Laramie Project, which is a play made up entirely of the actual spoken words of residents of Laramie, Wyoming, reflecting on the impact of Matt's murder and diversity issues generally in that community. It's won numerous awards in this one of the most performed plays in American high school theaters and community theaters. And finally, we have a resource for outreach to youth to make sure that young LGBTQI individuals have access to resources, especially those of them who live in rural or remote areas as Matt and other kids from the Intermountain West who are gay or lesbian or trans have very often been and have very often been unable to find those resources. Thank you, Jason. And now, many of you have just seen, or will have an opportunity to see, the Emmy Award-winning documentary Matt Shepherd is a Friend of Mine. The filmmaker, Michelle Hasway, is joining us remotely today. Michelle, can you briefly describe what inspired you to make this film? Yes. Matt was, as you see in the film, a very dear friend of mine. We essentially grew up together. So when we lost him, I, along with many of his close friends, including Jason, were devastated and it marks me deeply. I think I had a very naive worldview. I just did not realize that so many people like Matt, you know, the LGBTI community faced a threat of violence just for being who they are. So after getting over that devastation, we're not really ever getting over it, but after sort of coming to terms with that, I realized that I had a duty as Matt's friend and also as a filmmaker and storyteller to honor Matt and the other Matt shepherds out there and to make a film that shared with the world who Matt was as a human being, no different than any of us. So many, many years later, when I felt emotionally and professionally ready, I embarked on making this film and six years later, here I am. Thank you, Michelle. Let me say just a few more words before we get started to set the stage for the discussion. In April of this year, the State Department released its annual Human Rights Report. And as usual, this year's report offers a disturbing picture of violence being committed against LGBTI persons everywhere. There are examples of targeted LGBT killings in all regions. Family members, neighbors, gangs and strangers perpetrate these violent acts. And police frequently refuse to intervene or investigate. It's a story that needs to be told to ensure it becomes less common. So I'm going to start the conversation with a very broad question for our panel. Why is it important to support and advocate for LGBTI rights, including hate crime prevention? Why is that so important across the world? Special Envoy Barry, if we could start with you. Yeah, I think there's a pretty clear and compelling reason why we need to all enjoin in this conversation. And that is that the reality is that in 75 countries around the world, there still exists some form of criminalization of our community. And although in many of those countries, these laws are actually not actively enforced nor prosecuted, it basically creates an environment in which members of our community face even higher levels of stigma, even higher levels of discrimination, even higher levels of violence. And so as we engage in this on behalf of the State Department, in that global conversation, it's about eroding those laws, it's about chipping into these issues of broader social lack of knowledge about what it means to be a member of the LGBTI community. And I think as we look at how we change the hearts and minds and advocate for this basic equality, something's very clear and that is that the human aspect of this, or the ability to personalize it, which is very much what Michelle has been so successful in doing with this film, is to give a human face to this issue. So we know we're not talking about an abstract idea or a concept. What we're talking about is a human life that was tragically ended far too soon by hate. And Michelle, maybe if we could go over to you next, if you'd like to answer that question. Sure. I want to just answer it very simply. I feel that and Matt also felt that we were global citizens of the world and we are part of a global community and we're all connected to one another, just through our shared humanity. So it's very important to stand up for one another and fight for all of us to be seen as equal deserving of dignity and respect and love and acceptance. So that's essentially why I do what I do and what I fight for. And I think that we all should be committed to those same ideals. And Jason, I wonder if you could share your thoughts on that same question with us. Absolutely. Our lives are very short, aren't they? We don't live forever. Our childhoods are incredibly short and they form the life that we're going to lead through our adulthood and old age. And if we make it that far, as the Shepherd family found out, life is often cruelly cut short and for thoughtless and unnecessary and cruel reasons. Even in this country where we've advanced so far on LGBTI rights, there are about 250,000 hate crimes in this country every year and only seven or eight thousand are ever identified and properly reported and prosecuted. Even here in the United States, we have a tremendous difficulty not only with protecting people whose sexual orientation differs from the perceived norm, but also whose race or whose religion or national origin diverge from what others might expect them to be. We don't have people to waste in this world. We have such a short time together to share our gifts with one another and the most intimate thing we can share with one another is love. And it's a senseless cruelty to erect barriers to two people who wish to spend their lives together and certainly a cruelty to inflict government repression upon these individuals. We hope that to be a fundamental human value that people must be able to live as their authentic selves and to the extent that we as advocates in our country can share our passion and our understanding of this issue with places around the world that have yet to advance in this respect. I think it's a moral imperative for us to do it and to do it as swiftly and efficiently as we possibly can. Thank you, Jason. Let's now go to our live viewing group in Reykjavik, Iceland. Felix Bergman, an Icelandic actor, director, TV host and advocate will introduce the group in Reykjavik. Then we'll take a question from the audience. Hi, Felix. Hello, how are you? My name is Felix Bergson, but I will go with the other name as well, no problem. We are here, lots of people from the LGBTIQ community here in Iceland. We have a few ambassadors here and we have a lot of people who are very interested in human rights. First of all, we would very much like to thank you for a wonderful film, Michelle, which moved many of us to tears. I dare say all of us. And in light of recent happenings in Orlando, it was even more touching and we really feel your pain in the US. It's our pain as well. But my first question, I want to be the first one to ask, since I have told you, it's a very simple question. What can we as individuals do, each and every one of us, to fight and work against atrocities like that? Thank you for that. And apologies for the poor Icelandic pronunciation. Special envoy Barry, could you start us off with a response to that? Of course. I think that the type of work and the type of advocacy that ultimately is most powerful is that which comes from citizen activists and citizen leaders. Very much at the core of our policy in terms of our engagement as the United States government is to do what we can to empower or to provide or to protect enough space for civil society actors to do their work. We do that because I believe fundamentally that that's the only way change really happens. It's because of that type of citizen leadership. Specifically, what can individuals do? I think individuals can engage in conversations in their communities, within their families, with their political leaders, to really underscore the point that at the end of the day we're talking about not a special rights issue, not any kind of special accommodation, but merely a greater understanding of what it means to be equal, what it means to have equality and dignity under the law. That's the fundamental part of this equation. But I think also that individuals can also further the cause by supporting organizations who are advocating and working globally, by sharing best practices and ideas and concepts and resources with those who are struggling in other countries. I think that it's about that exchange of ideas. It's about that consultation and it's about how we can preserve that space for citizen activists and citizen leaders to do their work. And Jason, maybe we could go to you with that question as well, representing an activist foundation that is promoting equality both here in the United States and globally. What can the average citizen do to contribute to tolerance and respect? Sure. Our belief is that storytelling is fundamental, that we do not have a visible marker, most of us, as being lesbian or gay or trans or intersex or bisexual. People can't tell that we are when we walk down the street. It's different from race and ethnicity and national origin in some ways, in that it is incumbent on each individual to decide whether they wish to identify with the community or not and to whom. So, as Judy and Dennis constantly say, anyone out there who has not yet come out as their authentic self, this is the single most important way in which the society changes by individuals realizing that LGBTQI people are not in a strange category somewhere in the distance that we can safely ignore, but they are actually represented amongst our family, our fellow workers, our fellow students, the people who live down the street, the people from whom we purchase items, the people to whom we sell them, that our community is integrated in almost every way except for being visible. So, come out wherever you are, as Judy says, and when you have an opportunity to have someone come out to you and identify themselves as being a part of the community, embrace that individual and their courage in doing so. Special envoy Barry is correct also that organizations, certain political and thought leaders in each country are identifiable as strong allies, and they need our support as the rank and file population in each of our countries for all of us to work. Thanks for that, Jason. And Reykjavik, back to you, do you have another question for us? I believe we have a question for you. My question is, I kind of have two questions, many from Michelle. The first one was watching that film, I, as an audience member, got the sense that it would have been very tough for you in the kind of sense that you were constantly having to be opening these wounds again. So I guess the question was how difficult was it for you to make that? And since this film has been shown internationally, what has the international response been so far? Great, thank you for that question. Michelle, if we could go to you and I think, you know, ask you really, if you could share with us how difficult was this emotionally to make the film and what has the reception been globally as you've been traveling the world? Thank you so much for that question. In all honesty, it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but you know, we all signed up for it, all Matt's friends, his family, we knew that it was going to be a difficult challenge. But that wasn't really the point. The point was to bear witness to Matt and to his story and to reopen those wounds so that people could witness his life and his journey in a human authentic way. People are very familiar with Matt's story and have been for many, many years. But what I thought I could bring to the table was to share who Matt was in this human way, show that he was not perfect. Not by any stretch of the imagination. He had struggles and lots of joys and triumphs as well. But he was in perfect and flawed just like all of us. And I thought, and I think we all think that there's a lot of power to that. People can relate to that on a human level. So yes, to go back to the initial question, it was extremely hard. But we just had to get through it for Matt and for everyone really. And then the second part of the question was how the film has been received abroad. I have been really blessed to have the opportunity to share this film and Matt's story for the past, almost three years domestically and internationally. And I've just been really surprised to see how the film has been received unanimously. So wonderfully across the board, everyone has reacted so positively. And it's just a real beautiful thing to see how Matt's story still resonates with so many people all over the world so many years after his murder took place. Thank you, Michelle. And thank you for putting your love and your grief into that film. It certainly shows. All right, let's get to some of our questions from online viewers. The first question that I have is how do you suggest we bring attention to hate crimes in order to stop them if crime in general is so prevalent in society? And Special Envoy Barry, maybe we can start with sort of the policy approach. Well, here in the U.S., one of the most important outcomes that turned Matthew's tragic death into a legacy that looks different is the adoption of hate crimes legislation that bears his name. That's been fundamentally important as we have grappled with these issues in the U.S. And as I've had the chance to travel globally, I can tell you that that's part of a trend. In some places looking at hate crimes before the U.S. moved and in some cases afterward taking inspiration from that. So, you know, I think getting the legislation right and talking to others to make sure they understand the fundamental importance of drawing attention to these bias-motivated crimes is very, very helpful. Even in places where there are issues of crime that are so prevalent that it is often a challenge to disaggregate just a bit. Not impossible, but a challenge. You know, one of the primary issues that we're working on on behalf of the U.S. government is how we can share best practices, how we can share training and implementation with those countries around the world that have taken that step on adopting hate crimes legislation. Because there are several steps involved here. One of them is getting those laws passed, but there's a much greater challenge that follows that in terms of making sure people are educated about what it means so that crimes are investigated appropriately and prosecuted appropriately. And Jason, maybe we could go to you as well. Do you have any thoughts on how do we as citizen advocates advocate for greater tolerance and reduction in hate crime violence? Special law by various, absolutely correct. There has to be a policy component first and foremost. There has to be a law that can be enforced. And that requires all of the public constituencies who need protection from bias-motivated crime, be it racial, religious or sexual orientation or whatever it may be, to have adequate representation in their political decision-making system and to have allies, especially institutions like the United States and other civil society institutions abroad, standing with them and demanding that. Then comes the problem with enforcement and training and prosecution, making sure that these are not just on paper, but that they're living laws that protect real people in real time. And that's often a question of training of police and other authorities. It's a question of prosecutors learning how to best secure appropriate convictions under those acts. And then once you have all of that in place, you can tackle what is probably the greatest challenge, which is helping the potentially victimized community understand their own rights and their own protections and what they can count on police and the judiciary and other civil institutions to provide for them. And that may require concerted effort over a long period of time to work on social attitudes surrounding homosexuality or race or ethnicity, whatever issue or issues it may be in a given country. And that's where I think we as rank-and-file citizens can make a difference. We can raise our voices in concert with one another to demand that police not be corrupt, that prosecutors not be subject to undue influence and that the system works in reality the way it's supposed to work by design. And for walking us through that continuum of response really. We have a question from a viewer in Burundi who asks, what actions can you recommend to LGBTI activists in Africa to engage their government in putting in place laws and policies that protect LGBTI persons? Special Envoy Barry, you've been traveling in Africa. What advice would you have? Well, you know, I would first look for those allies and those like-minded individuals and organizations in your country who can advocate for change and then start out with an outreach to those allies and those friends in government. Again, as I mentioned, I've been in 43 countries in the past 14 months and I haven't yet been to one where there wasn't a receptive point in government for a discussion on these issues. A lot of work to be done because we have a great gap of knowledge that exists, I think, for people, even people who are fair-minded about general equality issues, to make them understand what the challenges that are routinely faced and make sure that they understand the personal, the human aspect of this conversation. And then, you know, build out from there that I think that there is great, great power through common work and common goal-setting. And I think that where I have seen efforts lag is where, in fact, you know, there's a mentality or there has been a willingness to go it alone, that there are many, many friends of this community in all around the world. And I think we need to look for those allies, build up those alliances and get this work done together. Thank you. This question is in for Jason. Jason, do you see the Matthew Shepard and James Bird Hate Crime Prevention Act as a model that other countries could follow? What role do organizations such as yours play in that process? I believe the Shepard Bird Act is the best possible hate crimes law that could pass Congress and be signed by the president at that time in 2009. I think it could still be improved. In the United States, we have some unique problems with the federal government actually having jurisdiction over criminal behavior. Those criminal behaviors have to fall in a very fairly narrow range of categories that involve interstate commerce or other elements. In other countries that have unitary or stronger federal systems, a law that packed a bigger punch could be passed because of the differences in the constitutions of those countries. That said, it's a tough law. It provides for very aggressive sentencing for people convicted of capital crimes such as murder, rape or kidnapping. And it's certainly a starting point for the conversation in any country, I think. Thank you, Jason. And now there's a question coming in from Embassy Colombo. Let's see, what can be done to overcome fear of difference? Michelle, maybe from a storytelling and personal engagement perspective, would you like to take that question? Sure, I'll try. You know, so many people are scared and fearful of difference. And I don't understand why completely, but, you know, as a storyteller, I think there's tremendous power in story, in sharing your true self with another person and dismantling those walls of ignorance and fear one story at a time. My medium is film, and I think it's a powerful one. In our film, we allowed people to see Matt authentically, including his struggles and his struggles with depression. And we allowed people to see him as a human being. And I think it allowed people to see him more fully. So I think that's a good model in order for true connection and understanding to happen. We have to allow ourselves to be seen, you know, really deeply seen, and that's where these stories come into play. When you share your story, you're allowing people to see you. You're letting them witness your experience. You're telling the world that you matter and that you're worthy. And that has a lot of power. And I think it leads to deeper connection and engagement for all people. Great. Thank you, Michelle. And we have a number of questions coming in. So please keep them coming from Ciudad Juarez. We have a question. What message would you give to parents of LGBTI people to help individuals accept themselves? Jason, maybe we'll start with you in your work with the Foundation and with Judy and Dennis Shepard. What advice do they and do you give to parents of LGBTI people? Sure. The Shepards feel, and we certainly agree with them, that the parents' utmost responsibility in the entire cycle of raising, rearing and fledging children is to accept them and love them as they are. If two people create another being, they have an obligation to that being to see it through to safe delivery to adulthood and to society. Sadly, this is not the case in an astonishing number of families where LGBTI individuals come out and are promptly evicted from their childhood home and become homeless and face a whole range of unendurable consequences. Our advice to parents would be, give yourself permission to not be perfect. Parents who are well-meaning and want to do the right thing for their queer-identified kids are the majority of parents whose kids come out to them. And one of the most difficult things that happens to them is that they're afraid that they might do something wrong and out of an abundance of caution, fail to try to do what's really needed and what's right. There are resources out there. The Matthew Shepard Foundation and a number of organizations are only a Google search away. First and foremost, let yourself understand that you are experiencing this for the first time right alongside your child who's experiencing it for the first time, and you have common interests and common goal in mind, and give yourself permission to do your best. And Michelle, what has been the reaction of parents of LGBTI children who come to the movie and are still obviously struggling with some of these questions? Parents are a big part of, they make up a huge part of our audience, actually, and I was surprised. But, you know, they're always very supportive mothers and fathers who come to our screening and they're very vocal afterwards. A lot of them are heartbroken after watching Matt's story. They see their own child story in Matt's and they're scared. I just had a screening, a very lovely screening here in Los Angeles and there is a group of moms there. And this was before Orlando and they were just, you know, there was no question, they just were genuinely wanting to share with people that they felt scared that their child has to live in a world where they could face the threat of violence just for being who they are. Thank you. Thank you for that. Let's turn to Twitter for some questions. This question comes from a Twitter user in Iceland. What can our societies do to tackle hate speech, the hate speech that leads to these kinds of hate crimes? Special Envoy Barry, do you want to kick us off with a discussion of hate speech and its relationship to hate crimes? Sure. You know, I think that the difficulty and the negative messaging that we see in many, many countries around the world, including in my own, sets the stage for difficult outcomes. And I think, you know, particularly when I look at these messages of hate speech, is that they give a tacit endorsement to those who would take actions into their own hands. It is a tacit implication that, especially for, you know, our LGBT youth, that somehow something's wrong with them or that there is a sanction or that there is permission to treat them differently. I think these two absolutely go hand in hand. I think that there is a real responsibility that we have as, again, as citizen leaders and citizen activists to make sure we are communicating that that kind of speech should never play a role in our national dialogues. That's easy to say and difficult to do, but I find that in so many cases, you know, this kind of speech is driven again by the lack of knowledge, the lack of understanding the personal dynamic about this, and an indifference to the consequences that is sadly uniform in so many places. And Jason, maybe do you want to discuss the connection between hate speech and hate crime, particularly in educational settings? Yeah, absolutely. Hate speech is a complex thing to try to deal with in the United States of America because we have such robust protections for free speech in our constitutional system of government. That said, what we can do is set societal norms through our own individual behavior and what behavior we're willing to accept or a challenge when we hear it or see it happen in front of us. I think like all things in this realm, it starts with individual choices. We need to choose affirmatively that we wish to live in a world free of hate, and then we can take a look at our own behavior and our own vocabulary to determine are we living up to that value. You know, I dislike cauliflower, but I don't hate it because I've been thinking about what hate actually means for a very long time. And hatred is essentially pouring out what's worst of you onto someone else. And I think all of us should challenge ourselves to look at the language we use when we're frustrated, when we're disappointed, when we sense that some injustice is occurring. We need to check in with ourselves about whether we're modeling loving, not hateful behavior. And when we can comfortably do that, we can calmly and politely and with compassion, call out to other people who use hate speech. We disagree or do not care here that type of language. And like all of this, if billions of us chose to make that same decision on a single day, I'd be out of a job and we'd all be living in a much better world and it would cost nothing. It would cost no money whatsoever. So we all have that power, but we need to all be in it together. So relationship building networks, setting a tone for our interactions with others, it all begins there. Thank you, Jason. And now I'd like to go back to Reykjavik, but we've had some great questions. Please keep asking them in the chat space or on Twitter using the hashtag LGBTI rights. Let's go back to our viewing group in Reykjavik, Iceland for questions. Reykjavik, do you have a question for our panel? Yes, I think we do. But I just want to say before we get the question that I think all of us here are moved by the question from Burundi. We just want to tell you that we used to be a really homophobic society in Iceland, but things do change. And when they start changing, they can change really fast. We saw that in Iceland and we saw that in the U.S. So keep the fight up, keep talking, keep working, and things will eventually change. But we do have a question here in Iceland. Hi, my name is Fatshah and my question is why do you think the media is often reluctant to talk about it, right? And sometimes avoids labeling it as such. Thank you for that question. I think the question was about why the media sometimes avoids talking about these crimes and the unique characteristics of the crimes. Special Envoy Barry, do you want to start? You know, this is a particular challenge that I think we see in a number of countries that not only extends to the inability or the reluctance of media to report specifically on the nature of these crimes. But if you delve a little deeper into that, that often that failure of the media is in portraying any kind of reporting about a member of the LGBTI community or those issues that affect members of the community in a straightforward manner. I mean, in too many places what you end up getting are cartoonish depictions, depictions that are insulting or a play to completely outdated and anachronistic stereotypes. Because again, at the end of the day, I think as with most individuals, they don't take on board that you're talking about another human life, another human being at the end of this. So I think it's important again for us, whenever we're talking about these issues, whether it's through this storytelling approach that Michelle and Dennis and Judy have so ably done to make people understand the essential humanity here is to continue that discussion and to continue focusing on the fact that we're talking about a human life. We're not talking about abstract individuals that have no connection to our lives. And Michelle, maybe we could go to you for that question as well. Your film depicts some of the challenges that those in the media had in covering Matt's murder and the struggles that we've had in this country in terms of talking about these hate crimes. Anything you'd like to share in terms of that question? It's a very sticky tricky question. And one that I think we're all kind of grappling with currently with a situation in Orlando. I think there's a reticence to for the media to label a crime as a hate crime just because it forces us as a society to kind of look inward and face really dark, difficult things about ourselves in Matt's case. And I think we show this in the film, especially towards the end with my conversation with Father Roger at the end of the film, who kind of confronted with the idea that, you know, Matt's murderers were created in a vacuum. They were nurtured and part of a society that taught them that it was okay to hate. And that's a really difficult idea to confront the idea that somehow we are all culpable in what happened to Matt, and that's something that I continually struggle with. And I'm struggling with again currently. Thank you for that, Michelle. Reykjavik, we'd like to go back and see if you have another question. Hi. Thank you for the film. It's been great to see it. And actually, I saw it before, you know, it moved me every time I see it. And talking about education, I see it just mentioned, Michelle, these two guys, they were kind of like perhaps getting no better. And how is the education in the States? Is it being taught from the early ages about that there are different types of people, different types of cultures, different types of human beings in general, and that we should tolerate each other? Certainly it is here. I don't know how it's there. So thank you for that question. The audio was a little difficult, but I think you're asking about the education system and the ways in which our educational systems either contribute to this exclusion and ultimately violence or can help us to come together and overcome that exclusion. So maybe if we could go to Jason and you could talk a little bit about how you address those issues in schools and in the educational sector. I find that over the seven years I've been with this organization that schools at least in the United States of America have really changed their views about whether they should have someone like Judy Shepard come and speak to their students. Ten years ago, the whole topic of homosexuality was considered so taboo that it was difficult for the shepherds to secure an invitation even from a high school and in some cases the university to come talk about these issues. Now they've been doing speaking engagements down in the third grade, fourth grade level quite regularly, and we see that the school systems at least in parts of our country have embraced the importance of diversity and go out of their way to find people who represent different walks of life, be it sexual minorities or racial or ethnic minorities or religious minorities, we're finding that the kids are meeting us more than halfway, that they have an appetite for it. We were invited to a school in Massachusetts not so long ago by the entire third grade who selected Judy Shepard as the person they wanted to hear from. So there are encouraging signs in that respect. That said, around the world and even in much of the United States of America, school systems are very conservative, they're afraid of risk, they're afraid of offending the wrong parent who turns out to be very angry and persistent. There are political concerns within communities as well. So the schools we see have the power to make these ideas about diversity take root amongst children. What is really needed is for more schools to decide they have that courage and to do so. Great. Thank you, Jason. And great questions from Reykjavik. Let's get back to some questions from our online viewers. The viewing group at the Embassy in Barbados has a question and they ask, what is needed to bring faith-based organizations and progressive ones together on the issue of LGBTI rights? Special Envoy Barry, I know the State Department has been encouraging these sorts of interfaith dialogues as a form of diplomacy and human rights engagement. Could you speak to this? Yeah, of course. I think that engagement with faith-based communities is an absolutely fundamental part of this conversation. I think that over the years I've been alarmed to see the development of a mentality that sometimes suggests that to be a person of faith means that you have to have an opposition to an understanding here. And if you're a member of our community, you don't have an appreciation for the views of communities of faith. I think that's a mistaken conflict. I think it doesn't have to be there. And I've had the real pleasure of seeing, particularly over the past year, a number of progressive faith-based organizations that are now coming onto the floor. I think that that space has been defined largely by extreme groups who simply haven't had to compete for bandwidth in terms of some of these conversations. So I'm very pleased to see this emerging. I think there are so many congregations in churches and communities of faith here in the States that are consistently expanding their reach, talking more publicly, and making sure that LGBTI people know that they're welcome in their congregations and in their families and in the public discourse. I think in some places that's a hard conversation to begin, but I think it starts at the grassroots level, again, with family and friends, with religious leaders in your community. I think that's easy to say. I think in some places it's very, very difficult to do, but I think that that conversation starts right at home. And Jason, do you have perspectives on those interfaith dialogue efforts? I do. And ecumenical, pan-religious efforts are, I think, what will help change the world for the better in a number of ways. And my last job, I was an environmental and wildlife conservation activist, and we worked very closely with a broad range of faiths, all of whose tradition included stewardship as an important commandment to follow. And I believe with LGBTI individuals, stewardship is a relevant model to look at. I highly recommend the book by the late Reverend Dr. Peter Gomes of Harvard University called The Good Book, in which he explores the Bible in its entirety and helps readers understand how to interpret biblical language that, in some cases, is used against our community. And there's a whole range of efforts along those same lines amongst the different faiths and the different denominations thereof. It starts with finding allies. It starts with finding people within each faith tradition who are committed to human rights broadly and to our community's rights specifically to get those dialogues going within their congregations and within the wider community of congregations. Great. Thank you, Jason. So we have another question from Ciudad Juarez. What steps can schools and educational institutions take to stop homophobic attacks towards youth? Jason, let's go back to you on that question first. Sure. The issue of bullying and the issue of hate crimes and the issue of discrimination are slightly different things by definition, but they overlap. They are often sequential in the experience of a person's life. So the earlier in the school system that we can interact with kids on a broad level about kindness as a value, about compassion, understanding, about acceptance. And as part of the, you know, kindergarten, early grades experience of being educated, we have an obligation to teach young people how to survive in a diverse pluralistic world. And it's not just trying to mollycoddle individual minority communities. It's about preparing young people for the world that they're going to live in a very diverse world and one in which these boundaries are going to be collapsed together. People are going to need to know how to live that way. And so anti-bullying curriculums are numerous and many of them have competing high points, a commitment from elected officials responsible for education. And by part of the country, we elect people to run the schools. And so engagement in that process is very important. And active parenting, not just sending your kid to school, but interviewing your child about what the school day was like and what did they learn about? And looking for evidence that positive social values are being taught, maybe the most powerful tool of them all because parents get heard by educators and we have an opportunity to use that power of parenthood to forward social change. And Special Envoy Barry, maybe from a policy perspective and institutional perspective, what are some of the tools or opportunities we have to promote an institutional change to address violence against youth? You know, I think an important aspect of this is actually through engagement, through our bilateral relationships and through multilateral organizations where we can look at norms and approaches that are being taken from a number of different countries. You know, just a few weeks ago, Mark, there was a meeting sponsored by UNESCO in Paris that was a gathering of many, many senior government officials to take a look at this issue of bullying in schools that had an LGBT component to it. That meeting resulted in a call to action that included a number of different specific recommendations, too long to go into here, but I would recommend taking a look at that. That I think there's a quite reasonable set of recommendations about curriculum reform, about intolerance of bullying and how educational systems at the macro level can begin to direct how those things are handled. But I think through building out those alliances on the education piece and looking at education reform and enforcement is very important. Thank you. So another question from Ciudad Juarez. What would be your advice for those who want to come out? Jason, maybe first we could start with advice that your foundation provides or resources that you could direct people to? Sure. Ola Juarez, you have asked consistently thoughtful questions. Coming out can be a very dangerous time in a young person's life. And it should be carefully thought about. While we do advocate for people to come out, we want to be absolutely certain that they're taking their own safety seriously and making certain that they're prepared for the wide range of outcomes. Because sometimes when you come out, your parent says, I've known for years, why did it take you so long to tell me? Other times when you come out, you may be evicted from your home or persecuted or subjected to what's wrongly labeled repetitive therapy. And so first and foremost, are you safe? Do you have support? Have you reasonably been able to determine what the response might be? And are you prepared to call upon other resources if things go badly? Are you aware of where you can go that would be a safe space? The only other advice idea beyond that, what links to what I said earlier about giving yourself permission, you need to have permission to live in an imperfect world. Because if you're coming out experience does not go well and sometimes it does not, you need to be able to accept that sometimes unjust or wrong things happen in our lives. And we have inner strength and resilience to deal with those things and not to blame yourself for telling the truth and being authentic. No matter how others respond to it, you must maintain your pride and your determination that coming out was the right thing to do just so long as you're prepared for how it might go. Great. Thank you for that. And we have a number of questions queued up. So I'd like to go through a few of them and ask for some brief responses from our panelists. An online user asks, how can different countries work together on LGBTI issues when we have different cultural values and norms? Special Envoy Barry, that's a question for you. Right, that's a great question. And the answer is that we dedicate ourselves to the universal human rights principle that all people are entitled to equality and dignity under the law. That I think transcends cultural values. It transcends cultural or traditional norms. We rededicate ourselves to understanding this is a personal, this is a fundamental marker of personality of what makes up a person. You know, I think the country, the question is theoretical, but in fact it's already happening. You know, all you have to do is look at the association of nearly 30 countries now that sit as part of the like-minded group at the United Nations. You need to look no further than the Latin American leadership that has emerged as the global defining leadership in the human rights conversation through the Human Rights Council in Geneva. You know, the transition from this conversation being one that was typically held in Northern Europe or in certain parts of the West, you know, that's changing rapidly. We see so much change coming out of South America. We see emerging norms coming out of Asia as well to really show this thing for what it is. And it's a global imperative, a global dedication to the universal human rights issue. Great, thank you. And Jason, we have a question for you from El Salvador. The question is, what do you see as the most important accomplishments of the Matthew Shepard Foundation? First and foremost, the fact that the United States now has a federal level hate crime law that is inclusive of various sexual minorities, I think will be one of the greatest legacies of this organization and of Matt and his family themselves. I also know that countless thousands of people who either have sent Judy Shepard a letter or come to one of our events or watched her on television have come out as a result of Matt's death or Judy and Dennis's activism, whatever it may have been, but programs and efforts of the Foundation have changed thousands of individual lives and helped them come out of the closet earlier than they otherwise would have. And I think the greatest legacy of all will be that people reclaim their lives and live them the way they were supposed to in the first place because what happened gave them the opportunity and the strength to do it. Great, thank you for that, Jason. And from the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador, did the Matthew Shepard case help change the U.S. perspective on LGBTI rights? Michelle, maybe we can go to you for that response. I think absolutely it changed my view of the world, it changed largely the heterosexual community's view of what was really happening and what the LGBTI community was struggling against. I think that's why it was such a historical moment in our history. For whatever reason, and everyone has a lot of theories about it, you know, Matt's murder, Matt's attack really opened people's eyes for better or for worse. And as Jason spoke so eloquently about, you know, we're seeing ramifications of that event so many years after in legislation and a new generation of advocates who are just now learning about Matt's story, you know, Matt has really changed the world. Thank you for that, indeed he has. We have time for one final question from a viewer in Guadalajara. How can hate crimes against LGBTI individuals be prevented? In the cities of Jalapa and Puebla in Mexico, we have seen many crimes happen and would like to know how to make change happen. I don't know if Special Envoy Barry, you want to start us off on that, it's a complex question. Sure, I think it's an extraordinary challenge to prevent this kind of awful crime, but it starts with the very basic steps that we've talked about. First and foremost is making sure that there is a provision in the law and in the regulation for acknowledging bias in these kinds of attack. And then you begin that harder task of educating people. So I think that requires education, that requires engagement rather with lawmakers and administrators, whether at any level in government. And then to talk to leaders in the police forces to make sure that those who this law would protect, as Justin said, know their rights and know the obligations of the government as well. But I think that the first and most important aspect is the adoption of a legal framework that makes sure that penalties are levied against those who would attack others out of bias. Thank you. And Jason, anything to add on that? I would just add that we all have an opportunity as individuals to do the utmost that we possibly can to protect our own safety. And in many communities in the United States, when police forces were still hostile to LGBTQI individuals, that community organized. They organized citizen patrols. They made sure there were safe spaces. They tried to find businesses who were sympathetic to their cause, who would be a safe haven for someone to come when they're in fear of or in the process of being attacked. And so if we model for our society the type of protection that we would like to see, sometimes that's what it will take to get official done or police forces or whoever is in charge to take the issue more seriously. Thank you for that, Jason. It looks like we are out of time for today. I'd like to thank everyone for their participation in today's web chat. Thank you to all of our online viewers, including all of those watching at the 40 or more viewing groups across the world. A special thanks to our group in Reykjavik, Iceland. And of course a big thank you to our panelists in the studio and online for coming here and answering your questions. Special Envoy Barry, Jason, Michelle. Do you have any final thoughts you'd like to share before we leave? I'd like to share one and that is really to commend Michelle for putting together such a beautiful documentary and also to Dennis and Judy Shepard and the foundation for making sure that out of that great tragedy that occurred 18 years ago that that wasn't the end of the story, that Matthew's story ultimately isn't going to be about tragedy. It's going to be about change and it's going to be about how we work together to improve ourselves. I've seen that to be true in those years since his death and I think that certainly we will see that continue. Talking during a time of, I think, significant crisis and soul searching here in the US, given the events of the last few days, I hope and believe that we will be able to pick up this tragedy and also find a way forward that improves our society, makes us stronger and makes us more unified. Thank you, Special Envoy Barry and Jason, would you like to share your final thoughts with us? Sure. Well, there's a saying, I'll probably butcher it, but first they ignore you, then they mock you, then they fight you, then you win. All great social change moves along that arc and all great social change comes with backlash and opposition and it's easy to say, stay strong. It's a lot harder to stay strong, but that's what will be required for this and all social justice movements to attain success. Great. Thank you, Jason, and a good message during Pride season. Michelle? I just would like to express my gratitude for having the opportunity to participate in an event like this and this very important discussion. It's been a very somber few days here in the States and I just wanted to say that even though it's been very depressing and sad and tragic, what's been so inspiring and this kind of echoes what has been so inspiring about Matt's story too, is to witness how so many people around the world have really rushed to love and support the LGBTI community in the victims of Orlando just from all over the world and just to recommit to living life with pride and joy and authenticity. And I think that that's such a beautiful, wonderful thing and that's the only thing we have to really fight against this type of hate and ignorance and bigotry. Thank you, Michelle. And Felix in Reykjavik, do you have any funnel thoughts that you'd like to share with us? Yes, we will just want to thank you for a fantastic discussion, which gave us a lot. I think we're all very happy here in the auditorium and BO parties. Just one final thing I think that we learned here in Iceland, education is the key. Education and more education. But thank you very much for a fantastic afternoon. Great. Thank you for sharing that as well. So thank you all so much for contributing your expertise and insights to this important conversation. Pride is really a celebration of the strength and resilience of the LGBTI community, and that's so important today after the tragedy in Orlando. The stories that we've heard today are a testament to that resilience and a tribute to all who fight for human rights and human dignity for everyone, no matter who they are or who they love. A number of online resources have been shared in the chat space next to the video player, so please check them out. And a replay of this program will run immediately after we finish, and a recording will be posted on this page soon, so please feel free to share this with your friends and colleagues. Thank you for participating today and keeping the dialogue going. Happy Pride.