In Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination Holning Lau offers an incisive review of the conceptual questions that arise as legal systems around the world grapple with whether and how to ...protect people against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. Readership: All interested in LGBT rights (i.e., SOGI rights). This audience ranges from students to seasoned LGBT rights experts who specialize in a particular country/region and are seeking to learn about other parts of the world.
Many businesses restrict their goods and services to opposite-sex couples. These businesses range from travel groups for straight couples only, to ballroom dance studios that require men to dance ...with women, to photographers who refuse to take pictures of same-sex couples. Recently, these businesses have generated a fair amount of controversy. For example, eHarmony, the popular online dating service, has spawned controversy by refusing to match same-sex couples, claiming that its patented compatibility test is tailored for opposite-sex pairings. Editorialists, such as Michelangelo Signorile, have accused eHarmony of unjust discrimination. Sandals, the beachfront resort chain, is another source of recent controversy. Mayor Ken Livingston banned Sandals from advertising in the London Underground because Sandals' romantic getaways only accommodated opposite-sex couples. Subsequently, Sandals volunteered to alter its restrictive policy.
With the rise of globalization, American legal commentators are increasingly directing their attention at developments abroad. When commentators discuss changes in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, ...they frequently use the terms "westernization," "westernize," and "westernized." This language elevates the status of the West, framing it as the reference point for understanding changes in other parts of the world. In this essay, I draw from the fields of law, linguistics, and post-colonial studies to illuminate problems with this common practice of discussing changes in terms of westernization. I show that this discursive framework limits understandings about changes around the world and I expose normative problems that these limitations present. In light of these concerns, I propose substituting the language of westernization with alternative terminology.
Introduction
Amid extensive scholarship on sexual and gender diversity in Thailand, research on LGBT + discrimination, exclusion, and policy responses remains limited and fragmented. We conducted a ...scoping review to synthesize the literature on LGBT + inclusion and human rights in Thailand, with a focus on diverse policy options.
Methods
Using the Joanna Briggs Institute’s scoping review methodology, and PRISMA-ScR reporting guidelines, we searched 16 bibliographic databases and gray literature. Results were categorized using an adapted WHO-UNDP LGBTI Inclusion Index and reviewed using a rights-based approach to policy analysis and development.
Results
We identified 2,341 sources, scoped to 115 published from 2000 to 2020. LGBT + exclusion and discrimination were identified in multiple domains, e.g., bullying in schools, disproportionate rates of sexual violence, labor market exclusion, and health disparities. Policy proposals ranged from implementing more stringent LGBT + antidiscrimination legislation to increasing the scope and quality of LGBT + health services. Specific proposals included legalizing same-sex marriage, allowing individuals to change gender markers on identity documents, explicit inclusion of LGBT + people in laws against sexual assault/rape, and increasing data collection on LGBT + populations.
Conclusions
Numerous policy proposals address LGBT + inclusion in Thailand, though largely circumscribed to healthcare and education domains, with less attention to the family or personal security/violence.
Policy Implications
We illustrate the utility of a rights-based approach to policy analysis/development and use specific policy examples (e.g., same-sex marriage, government-issued identity cards, disaggregated data collection) to highlight its potential to pre-empt implementation of problematic and regressive policies, and to ensure policymakers comply with their international legal obligations.
Tongzhi is one of several Chinese terms that refer to individuals who are attracted to the same sex. Using data from two different surveys in Hong Kong, this research note examines how the term ...tongzhi coexists with other terms. We investigate the prevalence of self-identification as tongzhi, and we explore the extent to which using the term tongzhi influences public attitudes toward gay people and gay rights. Activists began popularizing the term tongzhi in the late 1980s, but less than one third of the participants in our 2008 survey of sexual orientation minorities (n = 728) described themselves as tongzhi. Using a split-ballot experiment in a 2013 public opinion poll (n = 831), we found that attitudes toward gay people and gay rights were not significantly impacted by whether questions were phrased in terms of tongzhi or the main alternative term tongxinglianzhe. We discuss how our findings can enrich understandings of earlier research and illuminate avenues for future study.
Rather, he focused on the fact that reforming Singapore's staid image is necessary to attract foreign investment and educated immigrants who can further develop Singapore as a hub for science, ...technology, and financial services.6 For those who monitor human rights developments in Asia, Lee's remarks should come as no surprise.7 Government leaders in places like Singapore and Hong Kong have publicly donned their racing bibs for the race to the top. Both governments, for example, commissioned studies on how their respective cities could better attract the global "creative class," the mobile professionals who are essential to economic growth and have strong preferences for certain human rights protections, including sexual orientation rights.8 While policymakers in Asia were racing, human rights advocates were cheering from the sidelines.
Various parties have called on Hong Kong to pass legislation proscribing sexual orientation-based employment discrimination. The government has suggested that data on discrimination should inform ...debate on this matter. This survey of 792 self-identified sexual orientation minorities in Hong Kong examined (1) the prevalence of sexual orientation-based discrimination, (2) risk factors associated with experiencing discrimination, and (3) the relationship between experiencing employment discrimination and psychological outcomes. Nearly one-third of respondents reported discrimination. Rates of discrimination varied by age, education, and level of sexual orientation disclosure. Reports of discrimination were associated with negative psychological outcomes. This paper discusses how these results reinforce calls for legislative action. Limitations and directions for future research are also considered.
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