A/79/151 viewed as role models who may inspire others and therefore increase the participation of LGBTI+ persons in electoral processes”. 33 Notwithstanding considerable progress over the past few decades, “there is a dearth of visible LGBTI+ people in elected office and across public life”. 34 The National Democratic Institute has noted that “[i]ntersectionality is a neglected component of political participation….Women from ethnic minority groups and LGBTQI+ communities face additional barriers to meaningful political participation, decision-making, and leadership.” 35 14. Violence, incitement to violence, hate speech and disparaging rhetoric impose particularly severe constraints on the ability of LGBT people to participate in electoral processes. Violence and hostility may take the form of killings, physical attacks, t hreats, sexual violence 36 or online animosity. 37 Prospective candidates may face hate speech and death threats, and may even be forced into exile. 38 Where there is lacklustre condemnation of attacks against activists defending the human rights of LGBT persons, this can discourage political participation. 39 Different challenges and opportunities are faced by LGBT people depending on factors such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, geographic location and health status, and these are relevant to both their electoral participation and the ways that political parties might seek their participation. 40 It is not uncommon for unscrupulous politicians to deploy hostile rhetoric against LGBT people in an attempt to bolster their popularity by appealing to prejudice and provoking further animosity. 41 In this way, LGBT people are used as scapegoats for social, political and economic ills, in some cases inciting a “moral panic” and thereby compromising their full and equal electoral participation. The Constitutional Court of Colombia took a proactive stance that endorsed an approach to vulnerable population groups requiring authorities to adopt measures that “give differentiated treatment aimed at ensuring that participation in public affairs” through engagement that tailors electoral outreach to those groups’ needs, with the aim of “facilitating their democratic participation and not perpetuating isolation and marginality of sectors that have been historically made invisible”. 42 In Albania in 2020, the State took steps to prevent the use of hate speech during election campaigns by amending existing non-discrimination law to include explicit reference to hate speech. 43 15. Violence and harassment targeting women’s public and political lives is rooted in rigid gender norms. LGBT individuals and groups represent, for many, a “perceived challenge” to these very same “established norms of gender identity, gender roles and sexuality”, 44 and this perceived threat is often met with violent resistance, at times directly called for by politicians. 45 Rhetorical appeals to anti-LGBT animosity to __________________ 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 24-12964 Lluís Juan Rodríguez, Building Inclusive Democracies: A Guide to Strengthening the Participation of LGBTI+ Persons in Political and Electoral Processes (New York, UNDP, 2023), sect. 1.1. Ireland, Department of Justice and Equality, “National LGBTI+ inclusion strategy 2019–2021” (2019), p. 11. National Democratic Institute, Political Participation and Violence against Women in Politics in Southeastern Europe, research report (Sarajevo, 2021), p. 27. Submission by Caribe Afirmativo. Submission by Article 19: International Centre against Censorship. National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute, Tunisia International Election Observation Mission: Final Report (2019). ReportOUT, “‘No room for you’: the right to political participation for SOGI communities in Kenya and Bangladesh” (2024). Jennifer Thorpe, Power and Participation: How LGBTIQ People Can Shape South African Politics (Cape Town, South Africa, 2018). Submission by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), p. 3. Submission by Caribe Afirmativo. Submission by Albania. A/HRC/23/50, para. 47. Submission by Article 19. 7/25