Queering International Human Rights: LGBT Access to Domestic Violence Remedies
![handle is hein.journals/ajgsp21 and id is 615 raw text is: QUEERING INTERNATIONAL HUMAN
RIGHTS: LGBT ACCESS TO DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE REMEDIES*
NATALIE E. SERRA
Introduction: Domestic Violence in Same-Sex Relationships...................585
I. Domestic Violence and International Law.............. .........589
I. Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and International Law ................594
III. The Invisibility of Same-Sex Domestic Violence ......... .........599
IV. A Model for International Law on Same-Sex Domestic Violence......602
A. Promoting LGBT-Inclusive Domestic Violence Legislation
and Interpretation ....................... ...........603
B. Promoting Non-discriminatory Enforcement of LGBT-
Inclusive Domestic Violence Laws........................605
Conclusion ...........................................607
Though the word queer has been used as a disparaging term for LGBT individuals,
LGBT individuals and communities reclaimed 'queer' as an identifying term in the
1980s. The term allows for a positive redefinition of a formerly derogatory term for
odd or strange individuals relegated to second-class status. The term is inclusive of the
myriad of sexualities . . . . [and] allows for seeing sexuality, especially gender, as
socially constructed and therefore capable of being 'deconstructed' and
'reconstructed.' Adele M. Morrison, Queering Domestic Violence to Straighten
Out Criminal Law: What Might Happen When Queer Theory and Practice Meet
Criminal Law's Conventional Responses to Domestic Violence, 13 S. CAL. REV. L. &
WOMEN'S STUD. 81, 131 (2003). LGBT is an abbreviation that appears throughout
this note and stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender.
J.D. Candidate, Brooklyn Law School, 2013; B.A. Women's and Gender Studies,
The College of New Jersey, 2010. The author wishes to thank those who supported
and encouraged her to see this article to its completion: her colleagues at the Brooklyn
Journal of International Law, particularly Professor Claire Kelly and Elizabeth Dahill;
the inspiring attorneys, clients, and staff of Sanctuary for Families, particularly Andrew
Sta. Ana; the staff members of the Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law; and the
American Bar Association Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence. The author
also wishes to dedicate this article to survivors of violence and all those who work to
advocate for and empower them.
This Article was the first place winner of the 2012 Annual Law Student Writing
Competition on Domestic Violence and the Law, sponsored by the American Bar
Association's Commission on Domestic Violence. The views expressed herein have
not been approved by the House of Delegates or the Board of Governors of the
American Bar Association and should not be construed as representing the policy of the
ABA. This Article was first published in 21 AM. U. J. GENDER Soc. POL'Y & L. 583 by
agreement between the American University and the American Bar Association.
583](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ajgsp21&div=27&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Queering International Human Rights: LGBT Access to Domestic Violence Remedies
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