There is a significant amount of academic literature regarding LGB rights in developing countries. The various topics addressed, from cultural relativism to how international human rights law is being enforced, build upon each other, leading fluidly to the answer of whether LGB rights should be pursued by the United States. Homophobia is not widely understood by social sciences researchers. Kulick presents this as a problem because homophobia cannot be combatted if it is researched, documented, and dissected (Kulick 32). He explains what homophobia is, and describes how it is commonly misunderstood. It is defined as “a denigration of same-sex sexuality” (Kulick 21), and describes it as the fear and hate directed toward nonstandard sexualities
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One interesting debate is whether the focus should be on adding sexuality rights to international law, or appealing to individual states to alter their domestic laws. The latter, argued by Tahmindjis, seems to be more common. Tahmindjis argued that international law is not enough to protect against discrimination of LGBT people, and that domestic laws are essential in establishing these international laws as norms (Tahmindjis 10). While sexuality is not specifically mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is argued that sexuality rights can be inferred by state governments. Similarly, rights given in other various international human rights agreements can be applied to the LGBT community. Despite this, states do not tend to interpret international law as requiring them to provide LGB people with rights, which indicates a problem within domestic law (Tahmindjis 12). The author found by examining various legal human rights cases that local legal, social, political discourses are more important than international law in establishing human rights norms (Tahmindjis …show more content…
He recommends that Western countries should promote democracy, civil society, and rule of law globally, in order to promote gay rights without being accused of foreign meddling (Encarnación 103). While recognizing that correlation does not equal causation, he employs the Gay Friendliness Index to point out that the nature of a political regime - not religion or wealth - is most indicative of whether a country with have LGB rights (Encarnación 97). He argues that democracy is a prerequisite for gay rights because it induces or facilitates gay rights through citizen protections for minorities, and the existence of a strong civil society that can only exist when the political frameworks allow “freedom of association” (Encarnación 99). Democracy also allows for the creation of a socially tolerant environment, which allows LGB people to live openly (Encarnación 100). If more LGB people “come out”, it will shift attitudes toward homosexuality because, as numerous studies have shown, it is more likely that a person will be tolerant toward LGB people if they know someone who identifies as such (Encarnación 101). This also supports Sanders’ notion that LGB advocates can better organize if people disclose their sexual orientation (Sanders
One interesting debate is whether the focus should be on adding sexuality rights to international law, or appealing to individual states to alter their domestic laws. The latter, argued by Tahmindjis, seems to be more common. Tahmindjis argued that international law is not enough to protect against discrimination of LGBT people, and that domestic laws are essential in establishing these international laws as norms (Tahmindjis 10). While sexuality is not specifically mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is argued that sexuality rights can be inferred by state governments. Similarly, rights given in other various international human rights agreements can be applied to the LGBT community. Despite this, states do not tend to interpret international law as requiring them to provide LGB people with rights, which indicates a problem within domestic law (Tahmindjis 12). The author found by examining various legal human rights cases that local legal, social, political discourses are more important than international law in establishing human rights norms (Tahmindjis …show more content…
He recommends that Western countries should promote democracy, civil society, and rule of law globally, in order to promote gay rights without being accused of foreign meddling (Encarnación 103). While recognizing that correlation does not equal causation, he employs the Gay Friendliness Index to point out that the nature of a political regime - not religion or wealth - is most indicative of whether a country with have LGB rights (Encarnación 97). He argues that democracy is a prerequisite for gay rights because it induces or facilitates gay rights through citizen protections for minorities, and the existence of a strong civil society that can only exist when the political frameworks allow “freedom of association” (Encarnación 99). Democracy also allows for the creation of a socially tolerant environment, which allows LGB people to live openly (Encarnación 100). If more LGB people “come out”, it will shift attitudes toward homosexuality because, as numerous studies have shown, it is more likely that a person will be tolerant toward LGB people if they know someone who identifies as such (Encarnación 101). This also supports Sanders’ notion that LGB advocates can better organize if people disclose their sexual orientation (Sanders