Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: Legal Perspectives and Human Rights
Yp and its relevance at national
level
Definitions of SOGI
Gender identity is understood to refer to each
person’s deeply felt internal and individual
experience of gender, which may or may not
correspond with the sex assigned at birth,
including the personal sense of the body (which
may involve, if freely chosen, modification of
bodily appearance or function by medical,
surgical or other means) and other expressions
of gender, including dress, speech and
mannerisms.
Sexual orientation is understood to refer to each
person’s capacity for profound emotional,
affectional and sexual attraction to, and intimate
and sexual relations with, individuals of a
different gender or the same gender or more
than one gender.
Pant v Nepal Government
The Supreme Court relied on the definitions of
“sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in the
Principles to find that: (i) transgender persons
must not be discriminated against on the
grounds of their sexual orientation or gender
identity and are entitled to recognition as a third
gender
Constitutional Court of Colombia in
Case No T-717/11.
Whether to exercise its power under Colombian law
to recognise a de facto relationship between two
men as a marriage. ?
determined that sexual orientation constituted a
protected “other status” under Article 2(2) and
referred to the Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Right’s General Comment No 20, on non-
discrimination, which adopted the definitions of
“sexual orientation” and “gender identity”
expressed in the Principles
NALSA decision in India
YP principle
19. THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF OPINION
AND
EXPRESSION
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression, regardless of sexual orientation or gender
identity. This includes the expression of identity or
personhood through speech, deportment, dress, bodily
characteristics, choice of name, or any other means, as
well as the freedom to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas of all kinds, including with regard
to human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity,
through any medium and regardless of frontiers.
Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution states that
all citizens shall have the right to freedom of
speech and expression, which includes one’s
right to expression of his self-identified gender.
Self-identified gender can be expressed through
dress, words, action or behavior or any other
form.
Article 9 of International Convention
on Civil and Political Rights
Article 9
Everyone has the right to liberty and security of
person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary
arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of
his liberty except on such grounds and in
accordance with such procedure as are
established by law.
Principle 5 Right to security of person
Everyone regardless of sexual orientation or
gender identity has the right to security of the
person and to protection by the state against
violence or bodily harm whether inflicted by
government or by any individual or group.
International Convention on Civil and
Political rights
Article 17
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or
unlawful interference with his privacy, family,
home or correspondence, nor to unlawful
attacks on his honour and reputation.
Principle 6 Right to privacy
Everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or
gender identity, is entitled to the enjoyment of
privacy without arbitrary or unlawful
interference, including with regard to their
family, home or correspondence as well as to
protection from unlawful attacks on their
honour and reputation.
The right to privacy ordinarily includes the
choice to disclose or not to disclose information
relating to one’s sexual orientation or gender
identity, as well as decisions and choices
regarding both one’s own body and consensual
sexual and other relations with others
International Convention on Civil and
Political Rights
Article 16
Everyone shall have the right to recognition
everywhere as a person before the law.
Principle 3 Recognition before the law
Everyone has the right to recognition
everywhere as a person before the law. Persons
of diverse sexual orientations and gender
identities shall enjoy legal capacity in all aspects
of life. Each person’s self-defined sexual
orientation and gender identity is integral to
their personality and is one of the most basic
aspects of self-determination, dignity and
freedom.
No one shall be forced to undergo medical
procedures, including sex reassignment surgery,
sterilisation or hormonal therapy, as a
requirement for legal recognition of their gender
identity.
Principle 18 Protection from medical
Abuses
No person may be forced to undergo any form
of medical or psychological treatment,
procedure, testing, or be confined to a medical
facility, based on sexual orientation or gender
identity. Notwithstanding any classifications to
the contrary, a person’s sexual orientation and
gender identity are not, in and of themselves,
medical conditions and are not to be treated,
cured or suppressed.
Explore legal decisions from around the world regarding the recognition and protection of sexual orientation and gender identity. From Nepal to Colombia to India, courts have emphasized the rights of individuals regardless of their orientation or identity. These cases reflect the evolving understanding of human rights and the importance of equality and non-discrimination.
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Presentation Transcript
Definitions of SOGI Gender identity is understood to refer to each person s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth, including the personal sense of the body (which may involve, if freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or function by medical, surgical or other means) and other expressions of gender, including dress, speech and mannerisms.
Sexual orientation is understood to refer to each person s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to, and intimate and sexual relations with, individuals of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender.
Pant v Nepal Government The Supreme Court relied on the definitions of sexual orientation and gender identity in the Principles to find that: (i) transgender persons must not be discriminated against on the grounds of their sexual orientation or gender identity and are entitled to recognition as a third gender
Constitutional Court of Colombia in Case No T-717/11. Whether to exercise its power under Colombian law to recognise a de facto relationship between two men as a marriage. ? determined that sexual orientation constituted a protected other status under Article 2(2) and referred to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Right s General Comment No 20, on non- discrimination, which adopted the definitions of sexual orientation and gender identity expressed in the Principles
NALSA decision in India YP principle 19. THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF OPINION AND EXPRESSION Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. This includes the expression of identity or personhood through speech, deportment, dress, bodily characteristics, choice of name, or any other means, as well as the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, including with regard to human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, through any medium and regardless of frontiers.
Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution states that all citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, which includes one s right to expression of his self-identified gender. Self-identified gender can be expressed through dress, words, action or behavior or any other form.
Article 9 of International Convention on Civil and Political Rights Article 9 Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.
Principle 5 Right to security of person Everyone regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity has the right to security of the person and to protection by the state against violence or bodily harm whether inflicted by government or by any individual or group.
International Convention on Civil and Political rights Article 17 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.
Principle 6 Right to privacy Everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, is entitled to the enjoyment of privacy without arbitrary or unlawful interference, including with regard to their family, home or correspondence as well as to protection from unlawful attacks on their honour and reputation.
The right to privacy ordinarily includes the choice to disclose or not to disclose information relating to one s sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as decisions and choices regarding both one s own body and consensual sexual and other relations with others
International Convention on Civil and Political Rights Article 16 Everyone shall have the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Principle 3 Recognition before the law Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law. Persons of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities shall enjoy legal capacity in all aspects of life. Each person s self-defined sexual orientation and gender identity is integral to their personality and is one of the most basic aspects of self-determination, dignity and freedom.
No one shall be forced to undergo medical procedures, including sex reassignment surgery, sterilisation or hormonal therapy, as a requirement for legal recognition of their gender identity.
Principle 18 Protection from medical Abuses No person may be forced to undergo any form of medical or psychological treatment, procedure, testing, or be confined to a medical facility, based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Notwithstanding any classifications to the contrary, a person s sexual orientation and gender identity are not, in and of themselves, medical conditions and are not to be treated, cured or suppressed.
