Foreword W hile the immediate concern of a monitor visiting a place of deprivation of liberty is the observation of situations and conditions, leading to analysis and conclusions, it is my experience that every visit is usually followed by certain moments of introspection. After my visits, I have often been struck at how, from every human interaction, from every instance or pattern of abuse and from every tale of respect – or disrespect – that is reported to me I can see reflected societal mores, preconceptions and prejudice. This is particularly true when one strives to observe and understand the lived experience of bisexual, gay, lesbian, trans and other gender diverse persons deprived of liberty. One sees it all. Upon entering a place of deprivation of liberty, I have had meetings in which authorities were visibly uncomfortable at the sole use of the word lesbian and others in which I was informed that gay men are a construct of other parts of the world and not existing in that context. While the legal argument that condoms are criminal paraphernalia is only made in the 71 countries that still criminalise same sex relations, in the rest of the world the stigma associated to the mere existence of LGTBI persons remains deeply entrenched in the collective awareness. Up to this day, I have never had an experience where policies in places of detention catered for bisexual persons or revealed an understanding of intersexuality. While great progress has been made in relation to the needs of trans persons, they remain the most mistreated of all persons deprived of liberty. In my recent report to the Human Rights Council I observed that “[n]egation is adopting the position that violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity do not exist in a particular context or that,