Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in The Commonwealth
- Author(s)
- Edited by Corinne Lennox and Matthew Waites
- Series
- Open access titles

Description
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 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.
Table of contents
2 The sodomy offence: England’s least lovely criminal law export? - The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG
3 This alien legacy: the origins of ‘sodomy’ laws in British colonialism - Human Rights Watch
4 LGBT rights in Commonwealth forums: politics, pitfalls and progress? - Frederick Cowell
5 United Kingdom: confronting criminal histories and theorising decriminalisation as citizenship and governmentality - Matthew Waites
6 Wolfenden in Canada: within and beyond official discourse in law reform struggles - Gary Kinsman
7 Australia: nine jurisdictions, one long struggle - Graham Willett
8 A few respectable steps behind the world? Gay and lesbian rights in contemporary Singapore - Simon Obendorf
9 The Malaysian dilemma: negotiating sexual diversity in a Muslim-majority Commonwealth state - Shanon Shah
10 Decriminalisation of consensual same-sex sexual acts in the South Asian Commonwealth: struggles in contexts - Sumit Baudh
11 Decriminalising homosexuality in Africa: lessons from the South African experience - Gustavo Gomes da Costa Santos
12 The development of sexual rights and the LGBT movement in Botswana - Monica Tabengwa with Nancy Nicol
13 The LGBT situation in Malawi: an activist perspective - Undule Mwakasungula
14 The incremental approach: Uganda’s struggle for the decriminalisation of homosexuality - Adrian Jjuuko
15 Religious institutions and actors and religious attitudes to homosexual rights: South Africa and Uganda - Kevin Ward
16 ‘Buggery’ and the Commonwealth Caribbean: a comparative examination of the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago - Joseph Gaskins Jr.
17 Beyond cross-cultural sensitivities: international human rights advocacy and sexuality in Jamaica - Conway Blake and Philip Dayle
18 The use of equality and anti-discrimination law in advancing LGBT rights - Dimitrina Petrova
19 Conclusion Comparative analysis of decriminalisation and change across the Commonwealth: understanding contexts and discerning strategies - Corinne Lennox and Matthew Waite