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This book was conceived in response to the 2008 celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Despite this Declaration, which was adopted in 1948, sexual minorities around the world are routinely subjected to flagrant human rights violations (particularly by governments) that range from subtle discrimination to imprisonment, torture, the death penalty and murder. There are still countries where gays and lesbians are not considered human and human rights are not, therefore, considered applicable. In this book the problem is summarized in these words: ‘Homophobia appears to be the last accepted prejudice, where racism is rejected, anti-Semitism is condemned and hatred of women has lost its legitimacy.’

Why the slogan ‘Gay and lesbian rights are human rights’? Amnesty International provides the answer. ‘Sexual orientation and gender identity touch the innermost affairs of the heart, the deepest desires of the spirit and the most intimate physical expressions’, Amnesty has noted. Sexual orientation and gender identity are part of the essence of one’s being, concerning one’s right to physical and mental integrity and the right to self-realization. These rights imply that individuals themselves determine their sexual orientation and gender identity and express them - based on equality with others - free of fear and with no risk of discrimination and suppression. Sexual orientation and gender identity form a fundamental aspect of the being, of the individual. That is what human rights are all about.