International Human Rights Law and Sexual Orientation James D
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Hastings International and Comparative Law Review Volume 18 Article 1 Number 1 Fall 1994 1-1-1994 International Human Rights Law and Sexual Orientation James D. Wilets Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/ hastings_international_comparative_law_review Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, and the International Law Commons Recommended Citation James D. Wilets, International Human Rights Law and Sexual Orientation, 18 Hastings Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 1 (1994). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_international_comparative_law_review/vol18/iss1/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings International and Comparative Law Review by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. International Human Rights Law and Sexual Orientation By JA ms D. Wmus, J.D., M.A.* Table of Contents I. Introduction ............................................ 3 A. Statement of Purpose................................ 6 B. Overview of InternationalHuman Rights Law ...... 8 1. What Is InternationalHuman Rights Law and from Where Is It Derived? ...................... 8 2. How Is InternationalHuman Rights Law Enforced in Practice? ........................... 19 II. The Right to Life ....................................... 26 A. The Right to Life Under InternationalLaw ......... 26 B. The Right to Life Under National Law ............. 27 1. Execution of Sexual Minorities .................. 28 2. Government Complicity in the Murder of Sexual Minorities ....................................... 29 C. Applying InternationalLaw. ........................ 34 I. Torture, Cruel and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and Police Abuse ....................................... 37 A. Prohibitionof Torture and Cruel and Degrading Treatment Under InternationalLaw ................. 38 B. Prohibitionof Torture and Cruel and Degrading Punishment or Treatment Under National Law ...... 39 C. Applying InternationalLaw ......................... 42 IV. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile ................... 43 * Instructor of Law, University of Miami School of Law, J.D., Columbia Law School, 1987; M.A., Yale University, 1994. I am grateful to Jorge Cortines and Julie Dorf of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and Ted Walther for their enormous assistance in collecting the documentation contained in this article. I would also like to thank Villiam Rubenstein, Astrid Mattijssen, Aart Hendriks, Stephen Schnably, and the editorial board of the Hastings Internationaland ComparativeLaw Re- view for their assistance in editing this article. Finally, I would like to thank the Research Fund for Gay and Lesbian Studies and the Schell Center for International Human Rights at Yale for their generous financial assistance and support in this research. Hastings Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. [Vol. 18:1 A. The Right to Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile Under InternationalLaw ........ 44 B. The Right to Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile Under National Law ............ 45 C. Applying InternationalLaw ......................... 48 V. Non-Discrimination and Equal Protection .............. 48 A. The Right to Equal Protection and Non- DiscriminationUnder InternationalLaw ............ 50 B. The Right to Equal Protection and Non- Discrimination Under National Law ................ 52 1. National Constitutions ......................... 52 2. Statutory Authority ............................. 56 C. Applying InternationalLaw ........................ 57 VI. Right to Privacy ....................................... 59 A. The Right to Privacy Under InternationalLaw ...... 61 B. The Right to Privacy Under National Law ......... 63 1. Consensual,Private Homosexual Activity ....... 64 2. Age of Consent ................................ 67 3. Surveillance .................................... 68 C. Applying InternationalLaw ........................ 69 VII. Freedom of Expression ................................ 72 A. The Right to Free Expression and Limitations on Hate Expression Under InternationalLaw .......... 74 1. The Right to Free Expression Under InternationalLaw ............................... 74 2. Limitations on Hate Expression Under InternationalLaw ............................... 75 B. The Right to Free Expression and Limitations on Hate Expression Under National Law ............... 76 1. The Right to Free Expression Under National Law ............................................. 76 2. Limitations on Hate Expression Under National Law ............................................. 81 C. Applying InternationalLaw ......................... 82 VIII. Freedom of Assembly and Association ................. 83 A. Freedom of Assembly and Association Under InternationalLaw ................................... 83 B. Freedom of Assembly and Association Under National Law ....................................... 85 C. Applying InternationalLaw ......................... 90 IX. Right to Marriage, Family, and Partner Benefits ........ 91 19941 International Human Rights Law and Sexual Orientation A. Right to Family Under InternationalLaw ........... 91 B. Right to Family Under National Law ............... 93 1. Marriage,Domestic Partnership,and the Economic Benefits of Partnership ("Spousal Benefits") ....................................... 94 2. Parenthood ..................................... 101 3. Survivorship Rights ............................. 103 4. Right to Immigration and Residency ............ 104 5. Guardianship ................................... 105 C. Applying InternationalLaw ......................... 106 X. Right to Asylum ........................................ 107 A. The Right to Asylum Under InternationalLaw ...... 107 B. The Right to Asylum Under National Law .......... 109 C. Applying InternationalLaw ......................... 110 X. Right to Work .......................................... 111 A. Right to Work Under InternationalLaw ............ 112 B. Right to Work Under National Law ................. 113 1. Private Employment Discrimination............. 113 2. State Employment Discrimination............... 115 C. Applying InternationalLaw ......................... 119 XII. Conclusion ............................................. 119 L INTRODUCTION International human rights treaties and instruments are explicit in the applicability of their provisions and protections to all people.1 Re- cently, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the interna- tional body charged with interpreting the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,2 affirmed this principle when it ruled on April 4, 1994 that Tasmania's law criminalizing same-gender sexual 3 activity violated international norms of equal protection and privacy. 1. See, eg., infra notes 202-15; see also International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Dec. 16, 1966, Preamble, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966) [hereinafter ICCPR]: Consideringthat, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and ina- lienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world .... 2. Id. 3. Nicholas Toonen v. Australia, U.N. GAOR, Hum. Rts. Comm., 15th Sess., Case No. 48811992, U.N. Doc. CCPR/c/50/D48811992 (Apr. 4,1994) [hereinafter Toonen]. For a discussion of the background to the ruling, see infra note 209; see also James Wilets, Pres. sure from Abroad, 21 Hum. Ris. 22 (1994). Hastings Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. [Vol. 18:1 Nevertheless, numerous countries insist on denying individuals their fundamental human rights solely on the basis of sexual orientation or gender-role identity. For the purposes of this article, these individuals shall be defined as "sexual minorities." Sexual minorities include all individuals who have traditionally been distinguished by societies because of their sex- ual orientation, inclination, behavior, or gender identity. As used in this work, "sexual minorities" does not include individuals whose sex- ual identity is based upon non-consensual sexual behaior. The term "sexual minorities" was chosen in part because oppression based on sexual orientation is predicated on more than simply the existence of same-gender sexual relations. Rather, the oppression discussed in this article is fueled by any group which challenges traditionally defined gender roles. In this sense, the oppression of transgender and trans- vestite individuals has a great deal in common with the oppression of gays and lesbians. Conversely, because of the role of gender in the oppression of sexual minorities, gays and lesbians frequently suffer different consequences from such oppression. Accordingly, the au- thor would like to acknowledge the weaknesses inherent in any analy- sis which treats the experiences of lesbians and gay men in an analytically similar fashion. As Julie Dorf and Gloria Careaga Pdrez note, lesbian oppression parallels both gay male and women's oppres- sion, but is identical to neither.4 The issue of sexual minorities' human rights is international in scope since individuals with gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender incli- nations or identities appear to have been, and continue to be, present in every society,' regardless of culture or ideology, 6 even though indi- 4. Julie Doff & Gloria