ABSTRACT
In recent years, a significant new social phenomenon has emerged in global sexual politics, which can be identified here as ‘the new London-based trans-national politics of LGBT 1 human rights’. This has consisted primarily of the appearance of new non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working internationally, specifically the Kaleidoscope Trust, the Human Dignity Trust and the Peter Tatchell Foundation, all formed in 2011; and it also includes the development of the national organisation Stonewall into increasing international activity. These organisations have, in particular, sought to foreground and utilise the Commonwealth of Nations—the intergovernmental organisation which emerged from the former British Empire—as a ‘political opportunity structure’ (Kitschelt 1986) for claiming human rights. The task addressed in this chapter is the examination of how this trans-national political activity emerging from the UK can be analysed and evaluated through learning from struggles in formerly colonised states worldwide.
