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

Abstract

This article briefly outlines the extent of human rights abuses suffered by gay men and lesbians around the world and the ways in which they have been invisible within traditional human rights instruments. It also documents the rise of a global lesbian and gay politics organised around a human rights discourse. The limitations of relying oh human rights instruments are examined, but it is argued the gay and lesbian activists are aware of thees limitation, and are charting a path through these difficulties in a manner which sees human rights as one part of a process in which gay and lesbian communities are constructed, nationally and internationally.