 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 Berry, 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 Shepard 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 Berry, 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, two countries that are somewhere in the middle, two 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 and 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 the way we can interface with those abroad to do so as well. Crimes are a solvable problem. It's a community that has won awards. It's one of the works of theater that is most presented in community theaters and schools. We also have other resources for young people to ensure that the young people in this community have access to the resources they need, especially those who live in rural areas where they don't have access to this type of resources. I know how they have their fellow citizens in many cases. They have not been able to find these resources they have needed. Thank you, Jason. Many of you just saw, or will have the opportunity to see the documentary winner of an Emmy, Matt Shepard, my friend. Michelle Josue produced it and is with us today. You can describe briefly what inspired you to create this documentary. Yes, as you can see in the movie Matt was a dear friend of mine. We grew up together basically and when we lost him, many of his friends, Jason among them and I, we were devastated. I think I had a very innocent vision of the world. I had not realized that there were so many people like Matt who faced the threat of violence only by whom they were. So it's not that one recovers from a loss like that, but when I came to accept it, I realized that as a friend of Matt and as a filmmaker I also had the obligation to honor him and others like him. And I decided to make a documentary to tell the world who he was as a human being just like the rest of us. So many years later, when I felt mature, professional and emotionally ready for this project, and here I am. Thank you, Michelle. I want to make a few more comments to set the foundations for our dialogue. In April of this year, the State Department published its annual report on human rights and as always we see a worrying panorama regarding the violence against members of this community. There are specific murders of these people in all parts of the world, relatives, even strangers, unknown, can be the authors of these crimes. So it's a story that has to be told to make it less common. Let's start the conversation with a very general question for the panel. Why is it important to support the LGBTI rights, defend them, even in the case of the crimes committed against them all over the world? There is a very important and strong reason to join us all in this conversation and it is the fact that the reality is that in 75 countries in the world there is still some kind of penalization of this community. There are laws that may not be applied, but in any case they create a threat environment of certain levels of stigma, of violence. In many cases then, in the name of the State Department we participate in the world dialogue about this issue to erode those laws, to eliminate them, to deal with issues of lack of knowledge at the world level, as to what it means to be part of the LGBTI community and we seek to change the opinion, change the feelings of people in this sense and it is clear that the human aspect of this issue and the ability to see the human face to this which is what Michel has also done with his film is something very effective so that we know that we are not talking about an abstract concept but rather about a human life that was lost in a very tragic and precocious way due to hatred. Michel wants to answer this question. Yes, I wanted to answer it in a very simple way. I feel and I feel that we are citizens of the world, we are part of a global community, we are all interconnected because we are all humans so it is very important to defend ourselves mutually and that we all see each other as equal, deserving of love, of acceptance and that is why I do what I do and that is why I fight and I think that we all have to commit ourselves to those ideals and Jason, I don't know if you can give us some reflection in this sense too, of course, our lives are short, we don't live eternally, our childhood is very short and it molds the life that we are going to have as adults and as the Shepard family understood, a life like this can be interrupted unnecessarily and for cruel reasons. In this country where we have advanced so much in terms of LGBTI rights, there are about 250,000 hatred crimes that occur annually and only 7,000, 8,000 of these cases are notified, denounced so we have to protect people with a different sexual orientation also in terms of race, religion, national origin if they are not the norm or what others expect these people also need protection there are no lives to waste in this world we have very little time, we have to share our gifts especially love it makes sense to establish barriers between people who want to spend their lives together or oppress these people by the government it must be a fundamental human value the fact that people can live as they are, as authentic beings, faithful to themselves and we want to share this understanding this idea with other parts of the world that it is a moral imperative to do it with all the serenity possible thanks to Jason we will go to a group that observes us in Iceland Felix Bergman, actor, director and defender of LGBTI will present the topic and then we will talk to the group Hi, I'm Felix but I also use the other name that I just mentioned we are here with many people from the LGBTI community here in Iceland we have two ambassadors and other people who are interested in human rights first we want to thank Michelle for an excellent movie she moved us to many of us we were all with tears in our eyes and in view of the events in Orlando with one more reason we feel the pain of you in the United States the first question I wanted to ask I have a question since I have the use of the word and it is a very simple question we as individual people each of us what can we do to fight against atrocities like that happened in Orlando thank you and we apologize for the audio the quality of the audio in front of Randy thank you, I think the type of work and activism that is more effective is the one that comes from the citizens this is a fundamental part of our politics in terms of the participation of the United States to do everything possible to give to the civil society to the civil society tractors all the possibilities of doing this work because I think that fundamentally it is the only way to really change what is happening it is thanks to that leadership by the citizens an individual person can participate in dialogue in their community with their family with their political leaders to really underline the fact that in short, we are not talking about any special right nothing special but it is simply reduced to the full equality and simply that is the most important part of this equation also the fact that people can help through their support to organizations that work on these issues at a global level sharing their resources their ideas with those who fight in other countries and who suffer for this reason it has to do with the consultations that should happen among the citizens and how we can preserve those spaces for the manifestations of the members of the civil society it represents a foundation that promotes the rights of the LGBTI community LGBTI but what else can we do as individuals I think it is fundamental to tell our stories the majority of us do not have anything that externally marks us as lesbian homosexual etc this is different from what is the race or the national origin therefore it depends on the person if he wants to identify or not and who they are as Judy and Dennis always say those who have not been presented as they are authentically are the most important slave because people have to realize that the LGBTI community is not in some rare category in the distance that we can ignore but they are part of our family our colleagues our classmates neighbors someone from whom we buy something someone who buys something that we are selling it is a community that is integrated in almost all ways except the fact of being visible then as Judy says present yourself where you are come out and identify and let someone identify before you as part of that community with open arms to that person and it is also correct the comment that there are organizations there are leaders we can identify them as allies if they need our support as part of the general population of each country thank you we return to Reykjavik do you have another question for us yes I think we have a question my question is a double question it is mainly for Michelle I was watching the documentary and I imagine it would have been very difficult for you to remember these wounds these difficult moments so how difficult it was for you to do this documentary and how it has been in other parts of the world what has been the international answer to this documentary thank you we can pass with Michelle if you can tell us emotionally if it was very difficult to create this documentary and how they have reacted to it in other parts of the world thank you for the question really it is the most difficult thing I have done in my life but we all had committed the friends of MAD other friends also knew that it was going to be something very difficult but what we wanted to do was to give faith to MAD of its history and we had to reopen those wounds so that other people could know their life from a human and authentic point of view and now people know very well the history of MAD it has known it well for years it was to share who he was as a human being it was not a perfect being of course from no point of view he had his struggles his triumphs too he was an imperfect person like all of us and I think it is worth a lot because people can identify with that to a very human level so to return to the initial question it was very difficult but it was something we had to overcome by MAD and by all of us and as for the second part of the question how the film has been received on the outside I have really felt very happy to be able to share this story during the last three years here in my country and on the outside I was very surprised to see how this film has been received wonderfully in all parts all have reacted so positively and it has been beautiful to see how the story of MAD still affects so many people in the whole world after so many years after his murder thank you Michele, thank you for putting your love and your pity we are going to listen to some of the questions of the television in line the first question I receive is how do you suggest that we call your attention to the hate crimes to stop them if the crime is so prevalent and perhaps our special guest here talk about the political side here in the United States one of the most important results has become the tragic death of Matthew in a legacy that makes us change the adoption of the law of the hate crimes that lead to his name that has been very important to address these issues here and I, traveling around the world I have been able to say that it is the trend before they did it in the United States perhaps some have been inspired by what we have done here with others to make sure that they understand the fundamental importance of taking into account these prejudiced and hate crimes are important even in those places where there are so many crimes that sometimes it is difficult to separate them it is not impossible but it is a challenge and one of the main problems that we are addressing in the government in the United States is how we can share our customs, our implementation with other countries in the world and we want to adopt laws against hate crimes because there are several measures that we have to take one is promulgating the law, of course but there is a greater challenge to educate the people who understand what it is to investigate the crimes correctly and to process them correctly Jason, maybe you can talk about what you think of this as citizens, defenders how can we advocate violence, well it is definitely important there has to be the political component first there has to be a law that can be fulfilled and that requires that all the elected that need to be defended racial, religious or sexual orientation or whatever that have a good representation in the decision system and that have allies in all institutions as they have in the United States and the civil society that defend them and then clear the problem of the fulfillment of the training of the process that people understand that it is not just that it is on paper that it is a living law that protects real people in real time and that often requires the capacity of the police, of the authorities of the tax authorities that understand how to achieve adequate and condemned processes and when you have all of that to give perhaps the most of the challenges that is to help the potentially victimized community to understand their rights their protections and what they can use, how they can count with the police and with the other organizations to protect them and that perhaps requires a lot of effort and a long term to change the social attitudes about homosexuality race, ethnicity or the problem that is in question and I think that there as citizens we can achieve the difference we can make that our voice is heard and demand that the police is not corrupted, that the tax authorities are not allowed to influence and that the system works in reality as it should work thank you we have a question of a television in Burundi that asks what measures would you recommend to the LGBT activists in Africa so that they can interest their government to establish laws and policies that protect the LGBT people special delivery and you have traveled to Africa what can you tell us? Well, first I would look for those allies and organizations that think as one that can advocate for change and then I would start to make contact with these people and friends of the government three countries in the last 14 months and one has gone to one where there was something receptive in the government that you would have willing to speak of course there is a lot of work to do there is a breach of knowledge even people who are honest and fair and who want equality but who have to understand what are the real challenges that are faced and that really understand the personal aspect the human aspect of this conversation and get out of there that there is great strength with the work and the common goals and that I think that where I think I have missed is where there is the idea of doing it alone there are many friends in this community in the whole world and I think we have to look for friends allies, establish these alliances and work together this question is for Jason Jason do you see the crime of Burt as a model that could follow other countries what role would they play in organizations like yours in that process I think that the Shepard-Burt law is the best law against hate crimes that could have been promulgated and signed in the year 2009 I think it could improve in the United States we still have quite unique problems the federal government has jurisdiction over the delictive behavior and that delictive behavior has to follow a series of very reduced categories with a series of clearly defined elements from other countries that have stronger unitary federal systems maybe the law would have a greater impact on the differences in the constitutions of those countries but having said that, it is a strong law it has very aggressive condemns for people sentenced to murder, rape rape, kidnapping and it is a starting point at least in any country I think now there is a question that comes from the embassy of Colombo the fear of the difference Michelle, maybe from the point of view of your personal interest and the fact that you tell the story yes, I will try actually there are so many people that fear that fear the differences and I don't understand why really, but as a storyteller I think there is great strength in the story the real story with another and dismantling those walls of fear and ignorance a story at the same time I think this is very powerful we have found that people could see Amat as an authentic person with their struggles with depression they saw him as a human being this allowed people to see him more complete I think it is a good example to achieve a real connection to really understand what really happened it is important to see how we are and that is why these stories are so important when you share your story allows people to see you as you are that share our experience I think it is important that you have some value and that has great power and I think it leads us to a stronger link and a stronger participation we have several questions that come, so please keep going from the city of Juarez we have the question of what message would you give to parents of LGBTI people to help people accept themselves and with Judy and Dennis Shepard what advice would you give to parents of LGBTI people well Shepards and we feel that parents have the maximum responsibility of this cycle of raising children and the important thing is to accept them and love them as they are if two people create another being they have the obligation to raise it to create it to help them be part of society and unfortunately in many cases this is not like that in a large number of families where there are LGBTI individuals and who are voted from their homes they leave them without homes without living without love and the important thing is that parents must give them permission to be perfect for their children LGBTI most of the parents want to help them and perhaps one of the most difficult things that happens is that they fear that they may do something wrong and because of too much chaos they don't do what is really needed and what is correct there are many resources the Matthew Shepard Foundation and many other organizations are easily found through Google and the important thing is that let them understand that you are living this for the first time to share with them just like they are living it for the first time that they have common interests common objectives and give them permission to do the best they can Michelle what has been the reaction of the parents of LGBTI children who have seen the movie and who obviously still fight with some of these doubts well, parents are an important part of our public and I was surprised but there are always mothers and fathers who give us support and who openly speak after many of them they feel very moved after seeing the story and they see perhaps a little their own story in the life of Matt recently we presented the movie here in Los Angeles with a group of mothers there that was before the Orlando and there was no doubt that they genuinely wanted to share with others their fear that their son had to live in a world where they could face the fear of violence simply for being who they are thank you, thank you let's see some questions on Twitter a question of a Twitter user in Iceland what can our society do to address the hate speech that leads to this type of hate crimes special guest Barry, do you want to tell us what you think well, I think there is a great difficulty with the negative messages that we see in so many countries in the world including my own country which is the one that gives the straw to make these results so difficult when I see these hate messages these hate speeches they are giving like a tacit support to those who would take measures it is a tacit implication that especially our young people that they are wrong that there is a sanction that they are wrong that they have the permission to treat them in a different way it seems to me that this goes hand in hand it seems to me that we have the responsibility as citizens, as leaders, as activists to make sure that we communicate correctly and that this message is never transmitted to our national dialogues of course it is easy to do but difficult to achieve I find that in many cases carried out by lack of understanding or the dynamic of all this indifference to the consequences in so many places and Jason do you want to tell us what is the link between the hate speech and the hate delights especially in the educational environments without a doubt these hate speeches are complex in the United States because there is such a strong protection for the freedom of expression in our government even so what we could do is establish social norms through our behavior and through the behavior that we are willing to accept or challenge when it comes to us I believe that as many other things it starts with individual options we have to decide affirmatively that we want to live in a free world of hate and then analyze our behavior in these words and see if we are fulfilling our values I do not like the cauliflower but I do not hate it because I have thought about what really means hate for so long and hate essentially is to take the worst out of one and throw it to everyone else and I believe that we should all make an effort to see what language we use when we feel frustration disillusionment we have to see if we are giving an example of love or hatred and when comfortably we do this we could calmly and compassionately ask others not to use this hate speech that we are in disagreement that we disapprove that we do not want to listen to that type of language and as many other things thousands of millions of us decided to do that and we understood work and we would all live in a much better world and it would not cost anything not a penny so we all have that power but we all have to do it together the relationships the networks the tone everything is the starting point thanks Jason now let's go back to Reykjavik we have had incredible questions keep going with LGBTI rights let's go back to Iceland Reykjavik, do you have any questions for our panelists? yes, I think so but just before listening to the question I wanted to say that I think that we are all moved by the question of Burundi and we want to tell you that we were a very homophobic society in Iceland but that they have changed things and when they start to change here it can happen we keep talking, we keep working we keep fighting because things are going to change but we do have a question Hello, my name is I am from my question why do you think that the media often do not want to talk about hate crimes and avoid transmitting the message thanks for your question I think the question was why do media sometimes avoid talking about hate crimes characteristic of the crime sent to special Barry yes, this is a big challenge that we often see in many countries not only it extends to the inability or the reluctance of the media to inform about the nature of the crimes but if you go a little deeper you find that that failure of the media is not transmitting anything that happens with the LGBT community or with the problems that affect the members of these communities in many places what we find are cartoons that are so insulting and that are a little anti-cronistic because at the end of the day I think that with so many other things and with so many individuals they take into account that they are talking about another human being of a human life and it seems to me that it is important that when we talk about this topic we must always remember whether through a story we have told or as Michelle and Dennis and Yuri have done what we have to do is that people understand the human part of this and keep talking about the fact that we are talking about a human life something totally abstract or an individual that has nothing to do with our lives and maybe Michelle, you could answer that question too in your movie you show some of the challenges that the media people face when they cover the murder of Matt and the fights that have been faced in this country trying to talk about these hate crimes something that you would like to share with us about this actually it is a difficult question and one that I think we are all trying to understand after the situation in Orlando especially I think there is a remuneration by the media to label a crime as a crime of hate simply because as a society it forces us to look inside and face these things so dark and so difficult in our lives and in the case of Matt and I think this is seen in the movie especially towards the end when I talk to the father Rogers at the end of the movie that faces the idea that the murder of Matt was not something that happened in a void it was promoted it was part of a society that taught them that it was allowed to hate and that is a very difficult idea to accept the idea that we are all guilty of what happened to Matt and that is something that I continue to fight and I am fighting with that now thank you Michelle we are back with Rey can I ask another question hello thank you for the movie really it moves me every time I see it in terms of education Michelle just mentioned that the two murderers perhaps had not been created in a better way and when we talk about the cultures there are different types of human beings and I don't know we have to live together it was not very good the quality of the audio but I think the question was about the educational system and the way that our educational system can contribute to these exclusion patterns and violence or on the other hand can help us unite and overcome that exclusion maybe Jason can talk about the best way to address those problems in schools and in society schools at least here in the United States have changed in terms of their point of view about receiving someone like Judy Shepard who comes to talk about the subject a few years ago the subject was taboo it was very difficult for the Shepards to get them to invite them in particular from a university they didn't want me to talk about the subject now even at the third or fourth grade to the children and we see that the school systems in certain parts of our country have accepted totally diversity and they want to actively welcome others who are different whether they are racial minorities ethnic in terms of their sexuality really many are looking for this knowledge actively they invited us to a school in Massachusetts not long ago it was the third grade who specifically invited Judy Shepard as the person they wanted to talk to but in many parts of the world even in many parts of the United States many people are very conservative in the educational system they are afraid to offend certain family parents they are also worried from a political perspective so we have the faculty to achieve that these ideas are accepted they are instilled in children ideas of tolerance but we have to look for the support of these other educational groups we have a group that sees us from barbarity if you have a question do you want to know if organizations in defense of LGBT rights and how we can achieve what they are talking about Randy has been looking to promote this dialogue how they have done it yes, I think the dialogue with the communities of faith absolutely fundamental as a key element of this process and in recent years I have been alarmed to see the community in which to be a person of faith is necessary to oppose the LGBT community and that if you are a member of this community you do not appreciate the communities of faith and I think that is a wrong concept I had the pleasure especially during the last year to see several organizations of faith very progressive that are raising their voices and that space even now they have not had to compete against other voices but now I am pleased to see that all these voices are emerging in many religious groups here in the United States little by little they are expanding their extension they are talking about these issues giving to know the fact that they welcome the LGBT people and in some parts it is very difficult to start these conversations but they have to start at the base level with the families, with the religious leaders of the communities it is easier to say what to do in some cases but I think it is a conversation that has to start from the base from what surrounds us and in terms of these efforts yes I think this is what will help us to change the world in my last work I worked on the conservation of the environment and the species and we worked with faith groups whose religious traditions included the obligation to take care of the planet and I think this is a model that can help us in this case the book of Peter Goens of Harvard University The Good Book in which he helps the reader understand how to interpret a biblical language that in some cases is used against our community and is doing a great job in this sense so that the different faiths understand that there is a different way to talk to people of faith who are committed to this change so that they push that dialogue between their community and this place to a broader conversation thanks we have a question from Ciudad Juárez what measures can schools and other educational institutions to end the attacks of homophobia against the members if the subject of bullying of the hatred and discrimination are different topics but connected they are a sequence perhaps of experiences in the life of a person at the beginning the school system when we interact with other children we can talk about kindness as value compassion, acceptance and the level of the vegetables at the beginning of the education we have the obligation to teach the children how to live in a world where there is diversity, pluralism and it is not simply trying to please small minorities but teach everyone that they have to live together that we have to overcome among all that we will have to live together so there are many programs against bullying many have very good elements in my part of the country we choose our employees of the educational system, that is very important also parents can be activists it is not just sending the child to the school is asking how was that day what did they learn what are the signs that there are positive social values that they are presenting that they are teaching because there may be an opportunity or some cases in which the teachers do harm and you have to take cards on the subject from the point of view of the policies of the institutions which are some of the tools or opportunities that we have to promote to avoid violence I think a very important aspect of this is again the bilateral relations and multilateral relations through organizations and there are several countries that are taking measures in this sense and a few weeks ago a meeting sponsored by UNESCO in Paris where many high level employees of different governments to deal with the bullying I talked about the subject of the LGBTI community with a call to action with several specific recommendations I can not enter into detail there is no time but I recommend you to consult these texts because it is spoken of the reform of the curricula of intolerance the harassment in schools of how the educational systems at a macro level I think these alliances in terms of education looking for educational reform looking to make the laws do something of great importance thank you we have another question from the city Juarez what would you recommend to those who want to comment on this maybe we can start with the foundation of you in terms of resources you have made very good questions to present or identify as LGBTI it can be a dangerous moment in the life of a young person and although we encourage them to do so they have to be sure to be prepared for the possibilities of what can happen sometimes parents say why did you take so long to tell me but in other cases they can be persecuted or they can put them in therapy to cure them so first you have to make sure to have the necessary support to be able to have an idea of how the reaction will be you have to be prepared to have other resources available if things are not going well you have to be sure the only advice I can give apart from this has to do with what I said before to give yourself permission to do certain things you have to give yourself permission to live in an imperfect world because if the experience is not good sometimes it is not good you have to be able to accept that sometimes injustices occur in our lives and we have an inner strength and we can overcome we have to blame ourselves for having said the truth no matter how others respond one must preserve his dignity and the conviction to identify as what we are has been the right thing we have some more questions we are going to ask some short answers by our panelists someone asks us how can we work together when we have different values and cultural norms Mr. Berry for you is a great question and the answer is that we dedicate ourselves to the principle of universal human rights we all have the right to equality and this is something that goes beyond the cultural values and the cultural norms we understand that it is a fundamental characteristic of the personality of the personal identity who see it as something radical but it is happening now we have to look only at a association of almost 30 countries that already exist part of a group in the United Nations or we can also see the leadership of the Latin American countries that have emerged as the leadership of the avant-garde in the conversation on human rights or also the transition of a conversation between countries typically from the north of Europe or from certain parts of the West and it is something that is changing rapidly we see a lot of change many new things from South America from Asia as well and this shows us what this really is a worldwide imperative a issue of human rights worldwide we have a question for you from El Salvador what do you think is the most important achievement of the Matthew Shepard Foundation well, first of all the fact that the United States now has a federal anti-delete law that includes the various sexual minorities I think it will be the great legacy of this organization and of Mati from his family I also know numerous thousands of people have sent letters to Judy Shepard or have participated in our events or have seen it on television and have declared their sexuality thanks to the work of Judy Shepard or due to the death of Matt Shepard and they are programs of this foundation that have changed individual lives of thousands of them and have achieved that these people can identify themselves and I think the legacy will be that these people have been able to accept their lives claim their lives and what has happened is that they have felt that they have the opportunity and the strength to do it thanks to the United States Embassy in El Salvador in San Salvador the case of Matthew Shepard helped change the perspective of the United States regarding the rights of LGBTI let's ask Michel without a doubt my vision of the world also of many of the heterosexual community as far as what was happening with the LGBTI community what were their struggles I think that's why it was such a historical moment in this country and many have theories about it but for some reason the murder of Matt opened our eyes as a society and as Jason said in such a eloquent way we have seen ramifications of that happening many years later regarding our legislation a new generation of activists that are learning now about the story of Matt Matt has changed the world really thanks for that answer we have time for one last question of someone who gives us from Guadalajara how can we avoid the hate crimes against the LGBTI population in Jalapa and in Puebla we have seen many such crimes how can we achieve a change special day Barry is a complex question I don't know if he can help us if it's an extraordinary challenge to seek to prevent this type of crime so horrible but it all begins with those basic steps that we have mentioned there has to be a disposition in the national right to take into account this type of attack and then it begins the difficult task of educating society and this requires a lot of dialogue with legislators with administrators government officials at all levels we also have to talk with the police departments they have to know the rights and obligations of the government in this sense but I think the most important aspect has to be the adoption of a legal framework that allows that there are punishments for those who attack others for hatred do you have anything to add if we have all the opportunity as people to do everything that is in our reach to protect us and in many communities in the United States when the police forces still felt hostile towards the LGBTI community they organized citizen patrols to make sure to have places where they were to save, to look for places where the staff sympathize with them where they could shelter if they had any fear so if we give the example of our society, of the type of protection that we are looking for, sometimes that gives them the idea that the official authorities can take the most serious issue thank you very much it seems that time is over for today, I want to thank all of you for your participation in our electronic conversation today I want to thank all of you for watching especially the most of 40 groups that come together from all over the world especially the group of Reykjavik, Iceland and our deepest thanks to our panel our guests who are here our guest here in the studio our guest at distance Mr. Barry, Jason, Michelle do you have any reflections to share before we conclude? I want to congratulate Michelle for a really beautiful documentary here at Dennis and Judy Sherper and her foundation to make sure that this great tragedy of 18 years ago was not the end of the story that the story of Massio is not just a tragedy but a change and that it will be how we can work all together to improve I think that we have seen as a reality in the years since his death and we will continue to see and see the great doubt in the United States seeing what has happened in these last days I think we can get out of this tragedy a way to continue to improve our society to strengthen us and join us more thank you very much special Barry Jason would you like to share some final ideas with us? Yes, well, there is a saying that I will probably destroy here but first they ignore it then they throw you then they criticize you and then the change is achieved and I think this is the way to achieve the change and all the great social changes have opposition and problems and it is easy to say keep it strong but it is more difficult to keep it strong but that is what we are going to have to do for this change or any change of social justice thank you Jason a good message at this moment of the pride station for giving us this opportunity to participate in an event like this an important topic like this it has been difficult moments here in the United States and I just wanted to say that even when it has been very depressing it has been tragic but what has inspired me and in a way has been what has happened with Matt is to see how many people have really demonstrated their love and their support to the LGBT community and the victims of the whole world and that they have committed with life, with pride and with authenticity and I think that is a very important message beautiful and it is the only thing we have to fight against this type of hatred and ignorance thank you very much Michelle Felix in Reykjavik do you have any ideas that you want to share thank you for this this fantastic presentation that has taught us so much we all feel very happy here one last thing I think we have learned here in Iceland that education is important education and more education thank you very much for a fantastic program thank you for sharing that with us and thank you all for contributing with your experience with your perspectives to this important conversation especially a celebration of the strength and resilience of the LGBT community that is so important today after the tragedy of Orlando the stories that we have heard today are proof of that resilience I attribute to all those who fight for human rights and the human dignity of everyone, whoever they are whoever they love many of the resources online have been shared in the chat space take advantage of them review them you can see a copy of this program immediately at the end with a recording that will appear on this page soon, so please share this with your friends and colleagues thank you very much for participating today and for keeping the dialogue open happy pride