LGBT Rights Research Articles

The Foreign Policy of LGBT Rights : Russia’s Reaction and Resistance to US Policy

The Foreign Policy of LGBT Rights : Russia’s Reaction and Resistance to US Policy

Politicized Devotion to a Popular Saint: Daniel Zamudio and LGBT Rights in Chile

Politicized Devotion to a Popular Saint: Daniel Zamudio and LGBT Rights in Chile

Transnational Promotion of LGBT Rights

Book Review| January 01 2016 Transnational Promotion of LGBT Rights Transnational LGBT Activism: Working for Sexual Rights Worldwide. Thoreson, Ryan Richard. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014. 288 pp. Ashley Currier Ashley Currier Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google GLQ (2016) 22 (1): 140–142. https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-3315277 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Ashley Currier; Transnational Promotion of LGBT Rights. GLQ 1 January 2016; 22 (1): 140–142. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-3315277 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsGLQ Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2015 by Duke University Press2015 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The Politics of LGBT Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean: Research Agendas

LGBT rights have expanded unevenly across Latin America and the Caribbean. Recent scholarship has been able to explain some of the reasons for this unevenness. But new and old questions remain unaddressed. This article suggests areas for further research. Resumen: Los derechos LGBT en la politica de America Latina y el Caribe: Agendas para la investigacion Los derechos LGBT han proliferado en America Latina y el Caribe de modo disparejo. Varios estudios academicos recientes han logrado explicar las razones de dicho crecimiento disparejo. Sin embargo, existen todavia preguntas sin responder al igual que nuevas preguntas por contestar. Este articulo sugiere algunas areas que ameritan mas investigacion.

Touching Hearts: The Uncertain but Strategic Politics of KASHISH 2015

Ani Maitra reviews the fifth edition of the Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, focusing on the crucial role that the festival plays in bringing together Indian activists and filmmakers, while also combining collective action and aesthetic self-expression. Maitra examines the festival's rather difficult self-stated goal of “touching hearts” locally and globally, as shaped by the often-conflicting ideologies espoused by local politics, global and corporatized LGBT rights discourses, and Euro-American queer theory.

Gender, Class, Resilient Power: Nepal Lessons in Transformation

Control of armies, police and parties delivers hard power in the ‘state of exception’ illustrated by civil war in Nepal. The history of Nepal nevertheless shows how in revolutionary conditions, the crowd can be decisive to advance equality. Soft people power is mostly superior for advancing egalitarian agendas than hard power. Yet momentary people power must grapple with ancient, entrenched, material power. While ethnic or religious groups sometimes create armies, political parties, states within a federation, women do not create such institutions of hard power. Deft vernacularisation of women’s rights, LGBT rights and the rights of Untouchables into the discourses of both Maoist and western hard power delivered some egalitarian shifts. This case reveals how windows of soft power that advance gender and class equality can be widened in the face of resurgence of the hard power of parties, militaries, crony capitalism and foreign capital. Together, window-widening, disciplined nonviolence and vernacularisation to enroll hard power can deliver transformations that favour the marginalised.

LGBT, Religion, and Human Rights: a Study on Khaled M. Abou El-Fadl’s Thoughts

The Fatwa ”Haram” of MUI against homosexual orientation (LGBT) and the death penalty against LGBT had shaken the Indonesian, and further marginalized ”third” gender people. ”Religion” is urged to provide justice to the Ummah but the Ulema did the opposite thing by discriminating sexual minorities. The legal instrument of regional, national and international human rights has recognizes LGBT rights as basic human rights. Islamic religion in this case Shari’ah and Islamic law is used as a theological foundation by MUI to issued the fatwa that is contrary to the concept of human rights. The progressive interpretation of Khaled M. Abou El-Fadl became important to be studied to protect LGBT. Khaled attempted to break up the tension between religion (Islam) and human rights by using the social approach of contemporary humanities. By this means, Abou El-Fadl introduced a scheme of protection to LGBT under Quranic Syariah Law.

A Silent Dissonance

No abstract available

RIGHTS DEMANDED BY LGBT PEOPLE: A PRELIMINARY REFUTATION

The demand for a wider recognition of human rights as envisaged in many international conventions is not only directed to those living in traditional lifestyle, but also groups who are in LGBT relationships. This is reflected in many campaigns around the world for recognition and equal rights for LGBT people despite being opposed by many. Such campaigns could be seen manifested in many United Nations’ declarations and documents such as the Yogyakarta Principles. Attitudes towards the campaigns vary greatly in different cultures and countries. While some support LGBT rights, including the legal recognition of same sex marriage, adoption by same sex couple, and anti-discrimination laws, an equally widespread rejection exists in predominantly Muslim nations and in Africa, as well as in parts of Asia and Russia. Opponents in the Muslim world opined that claims made by LGBTs contradict Islamic and moral principles and norms. This article provides an insight and evaluates the intellectual arguments supporting and opposing the recognition of unlimited individual rights of LGBTs by adopting a doctrinal and qualitative analysis of the concept of LGBT and their practices.

LGBT Discrimination as Sex Discrimination: How Existing Doctrine Can Provide the Most Expansive Protection for LGBT Rights

This article argues that discrimination against LGBT people is per se sex discrimination, endorsing the approach that the EEOC has adopted in employment discrimination law. The article identifies serious problems with the doctrinal stability of the Court’s constitutional decisions regarding gay rights and recommends this approach in the constitutional context as well. The article explores how elevating sexual orientation and gender identity to the status of protected classes would not provide sufficient protection for LGBT people, and argues that using existing sex discrimination doctrine provides much more protection.

007.6 Role of minority stress in health-risk behaviours among young msm and tgs in india

Introduction Literature shows MSM and TGs face exorbitant levels of minority stress. Moreover, health-risk behaviours in young MSM and TG have not been comprehensively studied in all parts of India. Therefore, an insight into the potential role of minority stress in mental health of young MSM and TGs, and further health-risk behaviours is essential. The study explored the pathways and mechanisms of engagement in health risk behaviours among young MSM and TGs using minority stress perspective. Methods A mixed method approach (Qual-Quant-Qual) was adopted to examine how minority stress predicts poor mental health, and the role of mental health as a mediator variable in health-risk behaviours. 6 FGDs of 5 participants each were followed by a focused questionnaire development building on the insights from the FGDs. After field pilot, collection of Quant Data from 220 young MSM and TGs (18–30 years), using TSS was performed. In-depth Interviews on a focused and smaller yet representative sample of 32 was conducted. Results This study establishes that components and associates of minority stress (internalised homophobia, perceived and actual discrimination, gender non-conformity stigma, non-acceptance of sexual/social identity, experiences of violence and impact of criminalization of Homosexuality) significantly predict poor mental health outcomes among young MSM and TGs (e.g. anxiety and depression). This establishes Meyer’s Minority stress perspective and its cross-cultural validity in Indian context for the first time. This study also significantly suggests role of mental health as mediator variable in influencing health-risk behaviours including sexual risk-taking and alcohol and drug abuse. Conclusion Health-risk behaviours are a byproduct of the interaction between socio-cultural contexts, person’s social and community identity, sexual identity acceptance by self and others (e.g. criminalization in Indian context). Insights of the study will inform policy makers to assess LGBT rights and health policies and create increased sensitivity in the mainstream society. Disclosure of interest statement This study was funded by AusAID as an Australian Leadership Award Scholarship to the Researcher. No pharmaceutical or other grants were received in the development of this study.

Roman Catholic Traditions and LGBT Rights in Poland and France

Throughout the years and through changing times, the Roman Catholic Church has attempted, or has seen opportunities, to reinvent itself. Poland and France are an indication of the ways in which Roman Catholicism has entered the LGBT dialogue. While the Church continues to debate whether it should reinvent itself over the question of same‐sex marriage and the rights of sexual minorities, LGBT organizations continue to raise public awareness and use the European framework in hopes of bringing greater change in the status of sexual minorities in both countries. Meanwhile, reflecting on building a just and fraternal world, Pope Francis has demonstrated sensitivity towards the needs of gay people, but he faces opposition from many cardinals and bishops who favor the status quo.

Moving Targets: Religious Freedom, Hobby Lobby, and the Future of LGBT Rights

The recognition of marriage equality in Obergefell v. Hodges, just one year after Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. broadened the law of religious freedom, highlights the potential collision course of these movements. This paper is an attempt to navigate the waters where such a collision is most likely. As LGBT rights grow, the choice between generic religious privilege, typified by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), and specific religious accommodations, such as the treatment of religious non-profits in federal law, will define the terms of the conflict. Part I addresses current federal law, and focuses on the extent to which federal law authorizes religious exemptions from duties to avoid discrimination. The principal examples considered involve the duty of public officials, such as Rowan County (KY) Clerk Kim Davis, to respect the rights of same-sex couples; the duties of military chaplains; and the obligations of employers under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Part II turns to the potential effect of Obergefell and Hobby Lobby on legislative expansion of federal non-discrimination law to cover sexual orientation and gender identity. Hobby Lobby will exacerbate the difficulty of legislative compromises between the cause of LGBT rights and religious freedom concerns. As reflected in the proposed Equality Act, the most difficult questions of law and policy, analyzed in this Part, will involve the rights of religious organizations to engage in otherwise forbidden LGBT discrimination. Part III turns to state law, where recent battles in Indiana and elsewhere have been nationally explosive. Part III.A. explores the significant geographical disconnect between states with RFRAs and those with broad protections for LGBT rights. This Part includes analysis of the cases involving refusal by vendors to serve same sex weddings. Part III.B. discusses recent and anticipated legislative fights, including those involving religiously affiliated non-profit organizations, and suggests that 1) Hobby Lobby has made negotiations more difficult, and 2) some accommodations of religious non-profit organizations remain viable, especially if it coupled with broad expansion of LGBT rights in the commercial sector. Part III.C. focuses on the adjudicative battles that lie ahead between LGBT rights and religious freedom, and the significance of Hobby Lobby for those contests.

Framing the Ghanaian LGBT rights debate: competing decolonisation and human rights frames

This paper investigates how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights movements in Ghana, both anti and pro, framed the debate that captured media attention in 2006 and 2011. Decolonisation and human rights frames were appropriated, challenged, and dominated by opponents of LGBT rights, making it difficult for LGBT activists to use them. The opponents' corruption frame overpowered the LGBT activists' preservation frame. When LGBT activists used a human rights frame (comparing sexual minorities to racial minorities and to persons with disabilities), the countermovement appropriated it in a way that excluded same-sex relations by comparing sexual minorities to “deviants”, persons with mental illnesses, and animals. The interaction between the decolonisation and human rights frames was also problematic: the corruption frame not only rendered the LGBT activists' preservation frame nearly useless, but it also made their use of the human rights frame appear to be cultural imperialism and problematised the help they received from international LGBT organisations.

Language, Hegemony, and LGBT Rights

Language, Hegemony, and LGBT Rights

Europeanisation and Internationalisation of LGBT Rights in Poland

The development of the civil society in Poland post-1989 has put the LGBT movement on the map of the country’s social landscape. As a corollary, it has also led to a greater social engagement of the non-heterosexual community striving for recognition of its demands. The establishment of the Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH) and the spread of the Internet in Poland have raised the Polish society’s awareness of the LGBT movement and made it part of the country’s political discourse. On the other hand, the perceived threat to the established conservative values of the Polish society has galvanised the opponents of the non-heterosexual community and its demands. The resulting dispute between the supporters and opponents of the LGBT movement and its professed ideas has placed the issue on the agenda of the Polish political parties.

English

English

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Minorities in Transition: LGBT Rights and Activism in Myanmar

Grounded in ongoing fieldwork inside Myanmar and amongst exiled Burmese communities, this article provides the first detailed account of the legal and human rights status of sexual orientation and gender identity minorities in Myanmar, with a focus on the abuses that they suffer. It also examines how Burmese activists overcame repressive laws to form an indigenous LGBT rights movement that has flourished since the start of the country’s recent political transition. The research thus sheds light not only on future challenges for LGBT rights activism, but also on the broader political mobilization of human rights in a changing Myanmar. The research also has implications for states during democratic transition.

“It Is One, Big Loneliness for Me”: the Influences of Politics and Society on Men Who Have Sex with Men and Transwomen in Macedonia

In Central and Eastern Europe, the progression of rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) persons has not had the same success as in other parts of the world. The purpose of this study was to examine how society and politics influence men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women in Macedonia, particularly in relation to health services and access to justice. A cross-sectional mixed methods study design was employed between October 2013 and February 2014. Participants were recruited using geo-location-based social applications, purposeful snowball sampling, and venue-based time sampling. Quantitative data was collected, and semistructured in-depth interviews and focus groups were performed to examine the influences of politics and society on the MSM and transwomen communities in Macedonia. We recruited a diverse sample of participants (N = 26) with 15 identifying as male, nine transwomen, one female, and one transgressive. Eight participants stated they were bisexual, one stated they were lesbian, 16 stated they were gay, and one was unsure. The framework analysis identified four major themes; they were the perceived influences of politics and society on (1) MSM, transwomen, and LGBT rights, (2) MSM and trans identity, gender roles, and sexist ideologies, (3) ethnic, sexual, and long-term relationships, and (4) access to health services and justice. The major subthemes discovered that society and politics had an overall negative impact on MSM and transwomen and that health services and the justice system were overall inaccessible. The study illustrates how societal and political structures in Macedonia negatively influence sexual minorities and persons of differing gender expressions and identities.

Bridging Bisexual Erasure in LGBT-Rights Discourse and Litigation

LGBT rights are at the forefront of current legal news, with “gay marriage” and other “gay” issues visible beyond dispute in social and legal discourse in the 21st Century. Less visible are the bisexuals who are supposedly encompassed by the umbrella phrase “LGBT” and by LGBT-rights litigation, but who are often left out of LGBTrights discourse entirely. This Article examines the problem of bisexual invisibility and erasure within LGBT-rights litigation and legal discourse. The Article surveys the bisexual erasure legal discourse to date, and examines the causes of bisexual erasure and its harmful consequences for bisexuals, the broader LGBT community, and jurisprudential integrity as a whole. This Article contributes to the bisexual erasure discourse through a unique examination of bisexual erasure through a survey of relevant terminology in LGBT-rights cases, including and beyond recent same-sex marriage litigation. The study documents an almost complete systemic erasure of bisexuals in briefings and opinions, including an absence of any mention of bisexuals by majority opinions in cases where the briefings have set a tone of bi erasure by arguing alternatively for “gay and lesbian” rights, “gay marriage,” or “same-sex marriage,” while completely omitting reference to bisexuals. In addition to documenting the absence of bisexuals in litigation documents (despite the actual presence of bisexuals as litigants), this Article compiles anecdotal evidence of bisexual erasure by attorneys, courts, and the media. The time is overdue for more widespread inclusion of bisexuality in LGBT-rights discourse and litigation. Increased bisexual inclusion can provide a bridge toward more meaningful, holistic, and accurate discourse on the rights of disenfranchised sexual minorities in this country. The tide may finally be turning toward increased bisexual inclusion, however, as some courts and LGBT organizations have employed more inclusive terminology, and one federal judge has explicitly recognized for the first time that bisexuals, like gays, are harmed by same-sex marriage bans. Bisexuality, the last sexual orientation that dare not speak its name, is finally claiming its seat at the table of equal liberty, dignity and respect under law and in the eyes of the LGBT-community itself. The legal community should join this move toward more honest and holistic discourse that acknowledges the equal validity of bisexuality along with other sexual orientations. This Article is one of many steps that must be taken for more meaningful and inclusive LGBT-rights discourse.