140161 VO+UE VM1 - VM7 - Sexuality and Human Rights (2014W)

In December 2010, the Secretary-General of the United Nations made a momentous speech in New York where he called for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality and outlined the continuing violence, prejudice and discrimination faced by lesbians and gay men in an international context. He stated that 'as men and women of conscience, we reject discrimination in general, and in particular discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.' This tutorial course explores the relationship between sexual orientation and human rights in a global context by looking at both past and present realities. Taking a comparative and historical approach, we will consider cultural, moral and political attitudes towards homosexuality and the paradoxes and contradictions that have emerged in these debates. We pay particular attention to cultural specificity and consider the rich traditions of same-sex intimacy outside Europe despite often erroneous representations of homosexuality as a ‘Western lifestyle’.