by Michael K. Lavers

The U.N.’s LGBTQ rights watchdog on Wednesday acknowledged the increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people around the world has prompted a global backlash.

“Visibility is the key to acceptance, but of course visibility also comes with the risk of backlash,” said Victor Madrigal-Borloz during a telephone interview from the Colombian capital of Bogotá. “This is what we’re witnessing globally, a backlash. This is not playing out in (a) vacuum. This is playing out in the context of global geopolitics where other great conversations are taking place.”

Madrigal-Borloz did not specifically discuss the U.S. when he spoke with the Washington Blade, but he referenced anti-LGBTQ narratives in Ukraine and Georgia that promote the idea of lesbians being “bad citizens” because they don’t have children” and gay men “are detrimental to society” because they are “disordered and … automatically associated with pedophilia.” Madrigal-Borloz also cited rhetoric against migrants and asylum seekers in developed countries. Read more via Washington Blade