Equality, Dignity, . . . and Privacy: Indian and U.S. “Pansexual” (Human) Rights
EQUALITY, DIGNITY, . AND PRIVACY: INDIAN AND U.S. “PANSEXUAL” (HUMAN) RIGHTS Prof. Dr. Jennifer A. Drobac R. Bruce Townsend Professor of Law Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law Visiting Fellow, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge ABSTRACT This Essay explores two concepts for the protection of human rights for women and sex-based minorities. First, it suggests that the right of privacy, when given full enforcement, safeguards all persons against violence and discrimination. Second, this Essay examines the notion of pansexuality and how all persons, in some way, fit under this umbrella term. With the idea that we are all pansexual, pigeonholing based on sex- based characteristics ceases. Government can then afford all pansexual human beings the full panoply of civil rights and protection. I. INTRODUCTION On January 29, 2015, Professor Dr. Jaspal Sandhu of the Indian University Grants Commission wrote to Indian university leaders, “I request that you do all it takes to ensure that affirmative actions . are initiated in your university so that human rights of TG [“Transgender Community”] students are safeguarded and their 2 mainstreaming is fast-tracked within university and society at large.”1 On April 29, 2015, newspapers announced that Randy Berry, “is the U.S. special envoy for the human rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people, the first such post ever created by a nation, according to the State Department.” Berry is not new to human rights or diplomacy. According to this report, “Berry, a 22-year foreign service officer, has served in the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nepal, Uganda and South Africa, where he met his husband, Pravesh Singh.”2 These 2015 developments, a world apart in India and the U.S., indicate the spreading trend to recognize the basic civil rights of sexual minorities, women, and others.
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