ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses tensions among identity-based organizing and sexual rights advocacy. Both in national and international legal systems, identity categories are successfully used to make rights claims based on protections from discrimination and the basic principle that everyone can claim certain freedoms by virtue of their common humanity. At the prompting of both domestic and international colleagues for whom the identities “gay” and “lesbian” failed to be accurate or meaningful, the staff and board of directors of International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) changed the organization’s mandate in 2002 to adopt a sexual rights framework for promoting the rights of all people whose sexual orientation and/or gender expression do not conform to social prescriptions. IGLHRC has since used Sexual Rights as an umbrella term that encapsulates a range of human rights principles as they relate to sexuality. Adopting a sexual rights framework is grounded in the diverse realities, identities, and expressions of our colleagues, clients, or partners.
