Advancing Arguments for Freedom From Discrimination

Abstract

The right to non-discrimination promises equality for all persons and freedom from discrimination, based on certain individual and group-based characteristics. Ideally, this should delineate states' obligations to protect all persons. Yet, this right is usually not applied to every person depending on the prevailing social and moral mores of respective jurisdictions. Sexual minorities are part of such excluded individuals and groups, which are deemed undeserving of legal recognition and protection against discrimination based on their unconventional sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. Instead of equality and inclusion, retribution is the consequence for failure to conform to mainstream societal and moral values. This drives sexual minorities into the fringes of society, with hardly any assurance that the law can be used to protect them. It is within this context that this chapter interrogates whether the right to non-discrimination can be advanced for sexual minorities, leading to meaningful changes in domestic laws.