A Declaration of Human Rights Is Only the Beginning

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — December 9, 2022 — Washington, DC

In 1948, the United Nations signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), This ground-breaking document declared that every human being, regardless of race, religion, sex, language, ideology, property ownership, birth or citizenship, is endowed with basic fundamental rights — the right to healthcare, education, freedom of justice and dozens of other moral guarantees. The UDHR may not carry legal force, but for nearly 75 years, it has served as the foundation for countless documents that do, and has been instrumental in framing our fundamental human rights.

While the freedom to marry — and the imperative do so only with free and full consent of both spouses — that should be the bare minimum. Not everyone wishes to marry, and even those who do should be afforded rights beyond the limits of a contract. Everyone should have the freedom to express, engage in and have access to accurate information about consensually practiced sexuality, free from shame and stigma. Everyone should be guaranteed full agency over their own body and person, from gender expression to sex work to reproductive rights, free from state control. Of course, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. That’s why Woodhull has also signed onto the Declaration of Sexual Rights.

Woodhull was founded on the premise that sexual rights are human rights. Sex is not an indulgence or byproduct of the procreative drive but a vital, central part of our lives and identity. That the fully realized self embraces sexuality — the connection, the pleasure, the articulation — without shame or stigma.

Today, on Human Rights Day 2022, Woodhull reaffirms this central tenet. To deny our sexuality is to deny our humanity.

We know the road is long, but thanks to donors like you, Woodhull can continue the work to move the rest of the world closer to recognizing our shared humanity.

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