Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in The Commonwealth
Human rights in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity are at last reaching the heart of global debates. Yet 78 states worldwide continue to criminalise same-sex sexual behaviour, and due to the legal legacies of the British Empire, 42 of these – more than half – are in the Commonwealth of Nations. In recent years many states have seen the emergence of new sexual nationalisms, leading to increased enforcement of colonial sodomy laws against men, new criminalisations of sex between women and discrimination against transgender people.
Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in The Commonwealth: Struggles for Decriminalisation and Change challenges these developments as the first book to focus on experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) and all non-heterosexual people in the Commonwealth. The volume offers the most internationally extensive analysis to date of the global struggle for decriminalisation of same-sex sexual behaviour and relationships.
Read a review in the Canadian Journal of Sociology.
This publication is listed as a resource by Kaleidoscope Trust, Stonewall, and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association and ILGA-Europe.
Videos of the Toronto launch of Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Commonwealth can be viewed by clicking the following links:
Sexuality, Repression, and the Law - Part One (in partnernership with the Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights project)
Sexuality, Repression, and the Law - Part Two (in partnership with the Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights project)
Sexuality, Repression, and the Law - Part Three (in partnership with the Envisioning Global LGBT Human Rights project)
The video of the London launch of Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Commonwealth can be viewed by clicking here.
About the editors
Dr Corinne Lennox is Lecturer in Human Rights at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, United Kingdom.
Dr Matthew Waites is Senior Lecturer in Sociology in the School of Social and Political Sciences at University of Glasgow, United Kingdom.