No Safe Haven: Sexuality as a Universal Human Right and Gay and Lesbian Activism in International Politics

Millennium - Journal of International Studies

Volumn 23, Issue 3, 1994, Pages 563-588

  Laviolette, Nicole ^a   Whitworth, Sandra ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA   (Canada)

^b YORK UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84972599868     PISSN: 03058298     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/03058298940230030701     Document Type: Article

References (110)

1. See especially Cynthia Enloe, The Morning After Sexual Poli lies at the End of the Cold War (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994).
2. On this point more generally see Mary Robinson, ‘Human Rights at the Dawn of the 21st Century’, Human Rights Quarterly (Vol. 15, No. 4, 1993), pp. 629-39, and
3. V. Spike Peterson, ‘Whose Rights? A Critique of the “Givens” in Human Rights Discourse’, Alternatives (Vol. 15, No. 3, 1990), p. 303. See also
4. Brady Tyson and Abdul Aziz Said, ‘Human Rights: A Forgotten Victim of the Cold War’, Human Rights Quarterly (Vol. 15, No. 3, 1993), pp, 589-604.
5. It is important to underline the extent to which focusing on this organising as a ‘new’ issue, as we have, may obscure the extent to which international relations has always been concerned with the organisation of sexuality and sexualities. This has been true not only in the example of gays in militaries but in numerous other instances as welt. For example, recent research into the use of prostitutes daring British colonial occupations indicates that one of the reasons a blurring of racialised distinctions was considered acceptable was in order to prevent ‘perversions’ from emerging among colonial administrators. See Suzanne Baustad, ‘Who's on Top? Sex and Empire’, paper presented at the Conference. ‘Citizenship, Identity, Community: Feminists (Re)Present the Political’, York University, 19-20 March 1994.
6. This argument is inspired by Vasuki Nesiah. ‘Toward a Feminist Internationally: A Critique of US Feminist Legal Scholarship’, Harvard Women's Lav, Journal (Vol. 16, Spring 1993), pp. 189-210, and
7. Elizabeth M. Schneider, ‘Perspectives from the Women's Movement’, New York University Lav Review (Vol. 61, October 1986), pp. 589-652,
8. Julie Dorf, ‘International Human Rights: Advocating for Gays and Lesbians’, talk given at the University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 15 March 1994. For a more complete review of the human rights abuses suffered by gay men and lesbians, see
9. Amnesty International, Breaking the Silence: Human Rights Violations Based on Sexual Orientation (New York. NY: Amnesty International USA, February 1994).
10. Rex Wockner, ‘BBC Confirms Repons: Iran is Executing Gays’, The Bay Area Reporter (31 May 1990).
11. ‘Gays Murdered in Colombia’, Xtra (Toronto. February 1992), based on a report by the International Gay and Lesbian Association (1LGA) released 28 November 1991; see also ‘Agenda’ in Tema International 3, a publication of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) (Spring 1992), p. 2; and
12. ‘Mexican Arrests,’ Xtra (Toronto, 18 March 1994), p. 14.
13. ‘Guerilla Group (MRTA) Threatens Gays in Peru’, IGLHRC News Release (18 September 1992).
14. ‘IGLHRC-ILGA Joint Effort Documents Human Rights Situation for Lesbians and Gay Men in Romania’. IGLHRC Press Release (1 June 1992).
15. ‘Nicaragua: Al Concerned at Proposed Tightening of Laws on Homosexuality’, Amnesty International Weekly Update, NWS 11/27/92, (10 July 1992).
16. Rob Tielman and Taco de Jonge, ‘A Worldwide Inventory of Discrimination and Liberation of Lesbians and Gay Men’, in The Second ILGA Pink Book: A Global view of Lesbian and Gay Liberation and Oppression (Utrecht: Interfacultaire Werkgroep Homostudies, 1988), p. 185.
17. Julie Dorf and Gloria Careaga Perez, ‘Discrimination and the Tolerance of Difference: International Lesbian Human Rights’, in From Women's Rights Towards a Feminist International Law (London: Routledge, forthcoming), draft copy, pp. 3-4.
18. in From Women's Rights Towards a Feminist International Law.
19. See Scott Tucker, ‘Panic in the Pentagon: Will Queers Demoralize the Military?’ Z Magasine (June 1993), pp. 44-53. See also
20. Enloe, Z Magasine, in note 1, Chapter 3; and
21. Randy Shills, Conduct Unbecoming: Lesbians and Gays in the US. Military, Vietnam to the Persian Gulf (New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1993).
22. Dorf and Careaga Perez, Conduct Unbecoming: Lesbians and Gays in the US. Military, Vietnam to the Persian Gulf, in note 13, p. 5.
23. ILGA, ‘Information Package on the Human Rights of Lesbians and Gay Men’, presented at the conference, ‘Human Rights at the Dawn of the 21st Century’, Strasbourg, France (28-30 January 1993), Appendix, p. 1; Amnesty International, EUR 25/15/92, ‘Greece: Violations of the Right to Freedom of Expression’ (November 1992).
24. P. Tatchell. Europe in the Pink: Lesbian and Gay Equality in the New Europe (London: GMP Publishers, 1992), pp. 99 and 102.
25. Tede Matthews, ‘Bienvenidos a Jotolandia!’ OUT/LOOK (Winter 1992), p. 55.
26. ‘Gay Activists Sue Tokyo Government’. Xtra (Toronto, Aprii 1993) and
27. ‘Gay Centre in Madrid Under Siege’, IGLHRC Action Alert (September 1992).
28. In their discussion of international lesbian human rights, Dorf and Careaga Perez outline the three ways in which the persecution of lesbians either parallels the persecution of gay men, or parallels the persecution of women, or in which there are instances of lesbian specific persecution. See Dorf and Careaga Perez, IGLHRC Action Alert, in note 13.
29. See Sara Hart, ‘A Dark Past Brought to Light’, 10 Percent (Winter 1993), p. 37, and
30. Richard Plant, The Pink Triangle (New York, NY: Henry Holt & Co. Inc., 1986).
31. Hart, The Pink Triangle, in note 22, p. 39.
32. Philip Girard, ‘The Protection of the Rights of Homosexuals Under the International Law of Human Rights: European Perspectives’, Canadian Human Rights Yearbook (No. 3, 1986), p. 7.
33. See J. Steaky, The Homosexual Emancipation Movement in Germany (Salem, MA: The Ayer Company, 1982);
34. L. Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Ufe in Twentieth-Century America (New York, NY: Penguin, 1991); and
35. M. Dubeiman, Stonewall (New York, NY: Dutton, 1993).
36. Tatchell, Stonewall, in note 18.
37. J. Fouralt, ‘International Gay Group's Plea for UN Status Denied’, The Bay Area Reponer (San Francisco, 7 February 1991), p. 2.
38. ILGA Media Release, 31 August 1993.
39. For a more detailed review of (his controversy, see Andy Quan, ‘The International Lesbian and Gay Movement: ILGA, NAMBLA and the Imagined Future’, M. A. Research Paper, Department of Political Science, York University, Canada, September 1994; and
40. Jesse Green, ‘The Men from the Boys’, OUT (September 1994).
41. D. Osborne, ‘The Trouble with NAMBLA’, The Advocate (14 December 1993), p. 40.
42. ‘Hounding ILGA’, Now Magazine (29 September - 5 October 1994), p. 13.
43. ‘Argentina Allows Lesbian/Gay Group1, Gay Community News, (Boston, 19 April -8 May 1992), p. 2;
44. ‘Recognition for Argentine Group’, Gay Times (London, May 1992), p. 17;
45. ‘Homosexual Granted Status as Refugee’, The Globe and Mail (Toronto, 11 January 1992), p. I;
46. Dorf, The Globe and Mail, in note 6.
47. G. Rodgereon, ‘Bangkok Hosts First Asian Lesbian Conference’, Riles (Toronto, March 1991).
48. See D. Russell and N. Van de Ven (eds.). Crimes Against Women: Proceedings of the International Tribunal (Millbrae, CA: Les Femmes, 1976).
49. The report, known as the Voogd Report, was tabled before the Assembly on 8 July 1981, and is document 4755 of the Assembly's Committee on Social and Health Questions. See D. Sanders, ‘Getting Lesbian and Gay Issues on the international Human Rights Agenda’, unpublished paper prepared for the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, June 1993.
50. Commission on Human Rights, The Legal and Social Problems of Sexual Minorities, UN ECOSOC, 1988, E/CN. 4/Sub. 2/I988/31 (1987).
51. The Legal and Social Problems of Sexual Minorities, UN ECOSOC., para. 13.
52. The Legal and Social Problems of Sexual Minorities, UN ECOSOC., para. 70.
53. Sanders, The Legal and Social Problems of Sexual Minorities, UN ECOSOC., in note 35.
54. ‘UN Briefed on Lesbian and Gay Human Rights’, Gay Times (London, October 1992), p. 29.
55. The government delegations that spoke on the issue of discrimination based on sexual orientation were the Netherlands, Canada, Austria, Australia and Germany. See the ILGA Report, The International Lesbian and Gay Association at the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights (1 July 1993).
56. Official Journal of the European Communities, No. C 161, 20. 6. 1983, p. 67.
57. Official Journal of the European Communities, No. C104, 16. 4. 1984, pp. 4648.
58. Tatchell, Official Journal of the European Communities, in note 18, p. 16.
59. EC Commission First: Gays, Lesbians Exist’, Angles (Vancouver, April 1992).
60. Tatchell, Angles, in note 18, p. 23.
61. Voogd Report, Angles, in note 35.
62. Tatchell, Voogd Report, in note 18, p. 26.
63. ILGA Action Alert (January/February 1994),
64. S. Morrison, ‘Gay Rights Discussed al European Conference for the First Time’, Xtra (Toronto, December 1991), p. 11.
65. ‘Forgotten Prisoners: Legitimizing the Rights of Gay Men and Lesbians’, Policy Forum: A Newsletter for Amnesty International Members (March 1992).
66. Amnesty International USA, Policy Forum: A Newsletter for Amnesty International Members, in note 6, p. 2.
67. ILGA, Amnesty International USA, in note 41.
68. See Dudgeon v. United Kingdom (1981), Eur. Ct. H. R. Ser. A, No. 45; Norris v. Ireland (1988), Eur. Cl. H. R. Ser. A, No. 142; and Modinos v. Cyprus (1993), Eur. Ct. H. R. Ser. A, No. 259. See also Laurence R. Heifer, ‘Lesbian and Gay Rights as Human Rights: Strategies for a United Europe’, Virginia Journal of International Law (Vol. 32, No. 1, Fall 1991), pp. 157-212, and
69. Helfer, ‘Finding a Consensus on Equality: The Homosexual Age of Consent and the European Convention on Human Rights’, New York University Law Review (Vol. 65, No. 4, October 1990), pp. 1044-100.
70. Helfer, ‘Lesbian and Gay Rights as Human Rights: Strategies for a United Europe’. New York University Law Review, in note 54, p. 186.
71. Peter Van Dijk, ‘The Treatment of Homosexuals under the European Convention’, in K. Waaldijk and A. Clapham (eds.), Homosexuality: A European Community Issue (Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1993), p. 204.
72. For a genera! discussion of the legal issues that surround political -asylum, see Suzanne B. Goldberg, ‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death: Political Asylum and the Global Persecution of Lesbians and Gay Men’, Cornell International Law Rerim’ (Vol. 26, No. 3, 1993), pp. 605-23.
73. International Covenant on Human Rights, Communication No. 488/1992.
74. These criticisms of human rights arc drawn from Man: Bossuyt, ‘International Human Rights Systems: Strengths and Weaknesses’, in K. E. Mahoney and P. Mahoney (eds.), Human Rights in the Twenty-First Century (The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 1993), pp. 47-55.
75. ‘Human Rights Omissions and Too Quiet Diplomacy’, Manchester Guardian Weekh (15 March 1992), p. 12.
76. The types of criticisms around rights which we raise here come from the perspective of what can loosely be called the ‘left’ or from more progressive activists and intellectuals. It is important to note also, however, that much of the debate around rights which is currently being waged, especially by legal scholars in North America, is engaged with a more conservative position, which claims that ‘new rights’---based on race, gender, environment, age and ability---lack objective foundations and thus dilute both the notion and substance of human rights. For a review and critique of this position see Martha Minow, ‘Interpreting Rights: An Essay for Robert Cover’, The Yale Lav. Journal (Vol. 96, No. 8, 1987), pp. 1860-915.
77. See Peterson, The Yale Lav. Journal, in note 3;
78. Minow, The Yale Lav. Journal, in note 61;
79. Dawn H. Currie and Marlee Kline, ‘Challenging Privilege: Women, Knowledge and Feminist Struggles’, The Journal of Human Justice (Vol. 2, No. 2, Spring 1991);
80. Schneider, The Journal of Human Justice, in note 5;
81. Patricia Williams, ‘Alchemical Notes: Reconstructing Ideals from Deconstructed Rights’, Harvard Civil Righls-Civil Liberties Law Review (Vol. 22, No. 2, 1987), pp. 402-33;
82. Hilary Charlesworth, Christine Chinkin and Shelley Wright, ‘Feminist Approaches to International Law’, American Journal of International Law (Vol. 85, No. 4, October 1991), pp. 61345;
83. Angela P. Harris, ‘Race and Essenti al ism in Feminist Legal Theory’, in R. Bartlett and R. Kennedy (eds.), Feminist Theory: Readings in Law and Gender (Boulder, Co: Westview Press, 1991), pp. 235-62.
84. See especially Charlotte Bunch, ‘Women's Rights as Human Rights: Toward a Re-Vision of Human Rights’, Human Rights Quarterly (Vol. 12, No. 4, November 1990), pp. 486-98.
85. Peterson, Human Rights Quarterly, in note 3. p. 306 and passim.
86. Human Rights Quarterly., p. 333.
87. See for example Nesiah, Human Rights Quarterly., in note 5.
88. Dorf, Human Rights Quarterly., in note 6.
89. Didi Khayatt, ‘The Place of Desire: The Exclusion of Women in the Third World in Theorizing Sexual Orientation’, paper presented at the conference, ‘Queer Sites: Bodies at Work, Bodies at Play’, Toronto, May 13, 1993. For a general collection on biological versus social construction arguments, see
90. John P. DeCeddo and John P. Elia (eds.). If You Seduce a Straight Person, Can You Make Them Gay? (New York, NY: Harrington Park Press, 1993).
91. A concern for the cultural specificity of same sex behaviour and identification is regularly turned on its head when in many instances the demand for human rights on the basis of sexual orientation is cited as’ one of the best examples of ‘Western-imposed’ rights, or as the Prime Minister of Malaysia claimed in 1992, enhancing democratic rights would actually lead to homosexuality. As Dorf and Careaga Perez write: ‘As often, state officials claim that homosexuality simply does not exist in their culture, and so the extension of rights to homosexuals would be meaningless for them’. See Dorf and Careaga Perez, If You Seduce a Straight Person, Can You Make Them Gay?, in note 13, p. 12, and
92. ‘Democracy leads to homosexuality, Malaysia PM says’, The Toronto Star, 31 May 1992, p. A15.
93. US Department of Health and Human Services, The Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide (Vol. 3, January 1989), p. 110.
94. For a good collection that outlines many of these issues, see Wauen J. Blumenfeld (ed.), Homophobia: How We All Pay the Price (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1992).
95. ‘Convention Refugee Determination Decisions’, C. R. D. D. No. 348; No. M92-01550, Heard: 3 August 1992, Decision: 20 November 1992.
96. ‘Convention Refugee Determination Decisions’.
97. Williams, ‘Convention Refugee Determination Decisions’, note 63, p. 413.
98. ‘Convention Refugee Determination Decisions’., p. 416.
99. Abullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, ‘Introduction’, in Abullahi Ahmed An-Na'im (ed.), Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: A Quest for Consensus (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992), p. 3; see also
100. Nesiah, Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: A Quest for Consensus, in note 5, p. 203.
101. Minow, Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: A Quest for Consensus, in note 61, pp. 1892-93.
102. Schneider, Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: A Quest for Consensus, in note S, p. 611. See also
103. Nan Humer, ‘Marriage, Law and Gender A Feminist Inquiry’, Law and Sexuality (Vol. 1, Summer 1991), pp. 9-30.
104. Nesiah, Law and Sexuality, in note 5, p. 203.
105. Dorf, Law and Sexuality, in note 6.
106. Schneider, Law and Sexuality, in note 5, p. 605.
107. Phone Interview with Punam Khosla, Member of the Board of Directors, Kimeta, Toronto, 24 March 1994.
108. Dorf. Law and Sexuality, in note 6.
109. Memo and Project Proposals, ‘The Globa) Fund for Women’, 4 August 1993.
110. This argument was inspired by Mark Neufeld, ‘Interpretation and the “Science” of International Relations’, Review of International Studies (Vol. 19, No. 1, 1993), pp. 39-61.