Homosexuality And The Law

Law, Religion and Homosexuality is the first book-length study of how religion has shaped, and continues to shape, legislation that regulates the lives of gay men and lesbians . Through a systematic examination of how religious discourse influences the making of law – in the form of official interventions made by faith communities and organizations, as well as by expressions of faith by individual legislators – the authors argue that religion continues to be central to both enabling and restricting the development of sexual orientation equality. Whilst some claim that faith has been marginalized in the legislative processes of contemporary western societies, Johnson and Vanderbeck show the significant impact of religion in a number of substantive legal areas relating to sexual orientation including: same-sex sexual relations, family life, civil partnership and same-sex marriage, equality in employment and the provision of goods and services, hate speech regulation, and education. Law, Religion and Homosexuality demonstrates the dynamic interplay between law and religion in respect of homosexuality and will be of considerable interest to a wide audience of academics, policy makers and stakeholders.

A fascinating exploration of how the law--as viewed and decided by the courts--often embodies fear and prejudice against homosexuality, and thereby, becomes the instrument for discrimination. This valuable book covers a wide range of subjects, illustrating the extent to which the lives of gay persons are touched by these laws and providing a highly critical examination of the response by the American judicial system to our claims for equal protection under the law. Leading law professors and practicing lawyers address the important legal issues and court decisions relevant to male and female homosexuality--criminal punishment for gay sex acts, employment discrimination, child custody, gay organizational rights, and more.

In 2004, the first same-sex couple legally married in Quebec. How did homosexuality – an act that had for centuries been defined as abominable and criminal – come to be sanctioned by law? Judging Homosexuals finds answers in a comparative analysis of gay persecution in France and Quebec, places that share a common culture but have diverging legal traditions. In both settings, Patrice Corriveau explores how various groups – family and clergy, doctors and jurists – tried to manage people who were defined in turn as sinners, as criminals, as inverts, and as citizens to be protected by law. By bringing to light the various discourses that have over time supported the control and persecution of individual homoerotic behaviour in France and Quebec, this book makes the case that when it came to managing sexuality, the law helped construct the crime.

This reference work provides important information about the role academic research has played in the ever-evolving laws covering homosexuality. A comprehensive overview of homosexuality and the law, this fascinating dictionary opens with a history of the Gay Rights Movement which started in Germany during the l860s with Karl Heinrich Ulrich, the "Grandfather of Gay Liberation," who wrote 12 books including, Researches on the Riddle of Love Between Men. Homosexuals were later herded into Nazi concentration camps, where 50,000 of them died. When the war ended, Allied commanders forced homosexuals to finish their prison sentences. This book has 112 entries on subjects such as absurd sex laws, the Crittendon Report, the Boy Scouts, the l996 Defense of Marriage Act, surgical alterations, discrimination, sodomy, loitering, wills, and more. A nearly 100 page appendix details state and local laws. The book includes a list of advocacy organizations and other references, a table of cases, and an extensive bibliography.

"Human rights in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity are at last reaching the heart of global debates. Yet 78 states worldwide continue to criminalise same-sex sexual behaviour, and due to the legal legacies of the British Empire, 42 of these - more than half - are in the Commonwealth of Nations. In recent years many states have seen the emergence of new sexual nationalisms, leading to increased enforcement of colonial sodomy laws against men, new criminalisations of sex between women and discrimination against transgender people. [This book] challenges these developments as the first book to focus on experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) and all non-heterosexual people in the Commonwealth. The volume offers the most internationally extensive analysis to date of the global struggle for decriminalisation of same-sex sexual behaviour and relationships."--Abstract, website.

First published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book provides a coherent history of criminal law and homosexuality in Scandinavia from 1842 to 1999, a period during which same-sex love was outlawed or subject to severe legal restrictions in the Scandinavian penal codes. This was the case in most countries in Northern Europe, but the book argues that the development in Scandinavia was different, partly determined by the structure of the welfare state. Five experienced scholars of the history of homosexuality describe how same-sex desire has been regulated in their respective countries during the past 160 years. With backgrounds in history, sociology, and gender studies, the contributors represent an interdisciplinary approach. Their contributions present for the first time a comprehensive history of homosexuality in Scandinavia. Among other things, it includes the most extensive study yet written in any language about Iceland's gay and lesbian history. Also for the first time, the book discusses in detail same-sex sexuality between women. Female homosexuality was outlawed in Eastern Scandinavia, but not in the Western parts of this region. It also analyzes the modern tendency to include lesbian women in the criminal aspect of the medicalization of homosexuality and the growing influence of medical discourse on the law. Jens Rydstrm is lecturer in history, particularly gender history, at Stockholm University (Sweden) and the author of Sinners and Citizens: Bestiality and Homosexuality in Sweden, 18801950. He is currently working on the history of laws on registered partnership in the Nordic countries. Kati Mustola is a research fellow at the Department of Sociology of the University of Helsinki (Finland). She is currently involved in research on the situation of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people in the workplace. She also specializes in Finnish lesbian and gay history. She has edited several books in lesbian and gay studies and for many years was responsible for the teaching of lesbian studies at the Christina Institute for Women's Studies at the University of Helsinki.

This book explores contemporary social theory and developments in the study of sexuality through the analysis of law and its practices. Each chapter explores the power of discourse in law in relation to homosexualities, while simultaneously examining how homosexuals resist and disrupt these legal discourses. It is a valuable addition to the literature of the fields of Sociology, Cultural Studies, Law, Politics, Gender Studies and Sexuality.