ABSTRACT
The concept of justice—whether social or criminal—is predicated on the inviolability and universality of human rights, and the UN has operationalized social justice as the human right to “the fair and compassionate distribution of the fruits of economic growth.” However, just as with any other of the rights afforded to all humans, the right to social justice first requires recognition. For people of diverse sexualities, recognition has been eschewed for much of the UN’s history, and recognizing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) people in human rights discourses remains controversial. Even today, non-normative sexuality is criminalized in some jurisdictions, with those who act on their attractions tortured and subject to extreme violence, including violence from criminal justice actors. To talk of “compassionate distribution” of wealth within this context appears to further silence and misrecognize injustices experienced by sexual minorities in the global South and in the intersectional margins of the first world. In this chapter, we first outline what we mean by social justice, and then consider how the landscapes of social (in)justice change when we apply a southern gaze. Through the lenses of southern theory and queer criminology, we discuss the complex and at times contradictory intersections between social and criminal justice for LGBQ people by focusing on redistribution and recognition. We then discuss how queer-blind social justice within criminal justice has negatively affected the lives of LGBQ people. We conclude by reflecting on dominant ethics and strategies for pursuing social justice.
