C o m m e n t a r y TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENTBASED ON SEXUAL IDENTITY: The Roles and Responsibilities of Health Professionals and their Institutions Simon Lewin and Ilan H. Meyer Amnesty International's (AI) recent report"Crimes of Hate, Conspiracy of Silence" examines the torture and ill-treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)people. The report documents widespread human rights abuses, ranging from loss of dignity to assault, rape, and murder. The report also reveals that both the state and society continue to sanction these human rights abuses through formal mechanisms, such as discriminatory laws, and through informal mechanisms, including stigma and prejudice. The disinterest or active hostility of the criminal justice system has allowed many of these abuses to be con- ducted with impunity.l This disturbing picture of abuses that goes against human decency should rouse health pro- fessionals-as well as citizens everywhere-to action. Health professionals should be particularly alarmed that health-care workers are implicated in these violations not Simon Lewin MSc, is Senior Scientist, Health Systems Research Unit, Medical Research Council of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, and Lecturer in Public Health, Department of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Ilan H. Meyer, PhD, is Assistant Professor, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, New York, NY, USA. Please address correpondence to the authors at simon.lewin @lshtm.ac.uk. Copyright ? 2002 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. HEALTHAND HUMAN RIGHTS 161 The President and Fellows of Harvard College is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Health and Human Rights www.jstor.org ®