Beyrer, ‘Pushback’, 2014
- Category: Literature
- Source: Academic
- Subject: Sexual Orientation/Sexuality, Gender Identity, Refugee/Asylum, Human Rights, LGBT+
- Place: International
- Year: 2014
- File: Pushback
- URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001658&type=printable
Chris Beyrer, ‘Pushback: The Current Wave of Anti-Homosexuality Laws and Impacts on Health’, 2014 PLoS Med 11 (6), pp 1- 3
Abstract
We are at an extraordinary moment in the struggle for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) rights. Full citizenship rights, including those related to marriage equality, parenting, and health care are increasingly available to LGBT persons, couples, and families in countries as diverse as South Africa, Argentina, Spain, and the UK. 2013 was also a watershed year for LGBT rights in the US. Marriage equality advanced in a number of states and the landmark US Supreme Court decision United States v. Windsor ruled that much of the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional—lifting the restrictions on full federal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Though prejudice and discrimination against LGBT people remains a reality in all countries, the force of the law, and of the view that homosexuality is a normal variant of human sexuality, appear to have shifted decisively.
Globally, however, the situation remains markedly diverse, highly contentious, and the subject of vigorous debate in public fora, the media, and political life.