First comprehensive country-by-country report on rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered persons in the Americas

• World Policy Institute, December 2003 (PDF): Sexual Orientation and Human Rights in the Americas

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court extends marriage to same-sex couples

• Court says gays and lesbians cannot be denied equal right to marry, 18 November 2003 (PDF): Hillary Goodridge vs. Department of Public Health
• Court tells Massachusetts Senate that civil unions are discriminatory, 3 February 2004: Opinions of the Justices to the Senate

U.S. Supreme Court reverses course, supports sexual freedom

• The Supreme Court upholds state sodomy laws, 30 June 1986: Bowers v. Hardwick
• The Supreme Court overturns state sodomy statutes, 26 June 2003 (PDF): Lawrence v. Texas

Basic information on homosexuality

• Homosexuality: common questions and statements addressed
• Homophobia and heterosexism: understanding prejudice based on sexual orientation

Biological perspectives

• Twin studies suggest that genetics may play a major, though by no means exclusive, role in determining sexual orientation
• Bisexual behavior is commonplace among bonobos, humankind’s closest living relative among the great apes:
  Frans B. M. de Waal, Bonobo Sex and Society, Scientific American, March 1995
• Flipper is bisexual, as are many other marine mammals:
  
  • selected passages from Bruce Bagemihl, Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity
  • Wild dolphins off Brazil engage in homosexual behavior

Religious perspectives

• Judeo-Christian traditions
  • The Bible and homosexuality: it’s not as simple as you’ve probably been led to believe, as demonstrated by the story of David and Jonathan, for instance
  • The Bible on same-gender sexual behavior: contrary to widespread belief, the original Hebrew and Greek Bible does not forbid homosexuality per se
  • Views of different religions and denominations on homosexuality: they vary widely
  • The Catholic Catechism: homosexuality is “contrary to natural law”, mandates “chastity”
  • selections from Towards a Quaker View of Sex: it’s love that counts, not sexual orientation
• Native North American traditions recognize androgynous persons as gifted, not deviant:
  • Walter Williams: excerpts from The Spirit and the Flesh
  • Bess Lovejoy: Two-Spirit People
• Buddhism: Homosexuality and Theravada Buddhism

Politics and policy

• So-called “sodomy”: Why should private sexual practices be the business of any government?
  • Jeremy Bentham, circa 1785: Offenses Against One’s Self
  • ACLU on how so-called sodomy laws affect everyone:
    How would you feel if you and your spouse were arrested for having sex in your own bedroom?
• Discrimination:
  • President Bill Clinton, June 2000: Proclamation of Gay and Lesbian Pride Month
  • Barry Goldwater in Washington Post, 13 July 1994: Job Protection For Gays
• Why shouldn’t gays and lesbians have the same right to marriage?
  • The Globe and Mail (Canada), 3 January 2000: Pink meets green in marital bliss
  • Mitzi Henderson, 1996: Gays should enjoy rights of marriage
  • State “defense of marriage” acts: historical parallels with discrimination against racially mixed marriages

Atlas of gay and lesbian rights

• Legal status of homosexuality around the world: maps
• Laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in the United States: list | map
• Laws regulating sexual behavior between consenting adults in North America (so-called sodomy laws): map
• Hate crime laws in the United States: map
• Same-gender marriage bans in the United States: map

Treatment of homosexuals in Latin America

• Mexico: Congreso de la Unión, abril de 2003
  Ley Federal para Prevenir y Eliminar la Discriminación
• Text of pamphlet on sexual orientation produced under authority of the cardinal archbishop of Lima, Peru, 2002:
  Identidad Sexual: ¿Es posible escoger?
• Resource Information Center, Department of Justice, November 1999:
  Mexico: Update on treatment of homosexuals
• Mexico City anti-discrimination statute (1999)
• Treatment of homosexuals in Guatemala: In Guatemala, bashing is just the beginning, Connection to the Americas, June 1999
• Human Rights Commission of the Federal District: Cartilla de Derechos Humanos para evitar la Discriminación por Orientación Sexual (1998)
• Resource Information Center, Department of Justice, November 1997:
  Treatment of homosexuals in Mexico
• Ottawa Citizen, 1997: Macho Mexico elects a lesbian
• Pacific News Service: La elección de diputada lesbiana señala grandes cambios en tierra del machismo

Breaking stereotypes and democratizing culture

• Armistead Maupin on why it’s important to break out of the gay ghettos: Design For Living—Strengthening the Body Politic Seven Ways
• Advertising and poetry: Diesel Jeans and Walt Whitman
• Cinema: Beautiful Thing
• Television: Will & Grace

Links

Organizations:
• Global
  • International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
  • Human Rights Watch: Lesbian and Gay Rights
  • Amnesty International OUTfront!
• USA
  • American Civil Liberties Union
  • Human Rights Campaign – “working for gay and lesbian equal rights”
  • Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
  • Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
  • National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
  • Southern Poverty Law Center
• Canada
  • Egale Canada
• Europe
  • International Lesbian and Gay Association – European Region
News-journalism:
• The Washington Blade Online
• Rex Wockner Archives
History—the gay holocaust:
• The Pink Triangle Pages
Search engine:
• Political Information: Gay Rights