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13 Mich. St. J. Int'l L. 197 (2005)
Reconciling Sexual Orientation: Creating a Definition of Genocide that Includes Sexual Orientation

handle is hein.journals/mistjintl13 and id is 203 raw text is: RECONCILING SEXUAL ORIENTATION: CREATING A DEFINITION OF GENOCIDE THAT INCLUDES SEXUAL ORIENTATION Alycia T. Feindel* Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.' INTRODUCTION The Nuremberg tribunal did not charge war criminals for their crimes against homosexuals. This omission, in effect, silently legitimized these crimes. This legitimization continued in the emerging canon of international criminal law, which did not recognize the persecution of homosexuals within its definition of genocide. Even though the Nazis systematically defined homosexuals as a group and singled them out for extermination, the definition of genocide as developed at Nuremburg was too narrow to include such persecution. This prosecutorial and definitional omission left homosexual victims without recognition of, or remedy for, the crimes the Nazis committed against them. Without public recognition of wrongdoing, individual victims' reconciliation was difficult. The lack of prosecution served to continue victims' silence and humiliation, forestalling forgiveness, healing, or any meaningful justice,2 and risking similar persecution in the future. This paper will initially focus on the Nuremberg trials in order to illustrate how the tribunal's neglect of the crimes against homosexuals led to a similar omission of homosexuals from the discussion at the subsequent Genocide Convention. Then, in Part II, I will provide a brief summary of the status of homosexuals before, during, and after the Nazi regime, and will demonstrate how the lives of homosexuals were * Third year law student at University of Idaho College of Law. Many thanks to Professor Russ Miller-without his mentoring, encouragement, and edits I would have never started this paper. Also, thanks to Jenny Moss Benson and Susan Moss for their editing assistance. 1. H.G. WELLS, 2 THE OUTLINE OF HISTORY 594 (1920). 2. Reconciliation is essential in the aftermath of sustained violence. Examining the painful past, acknowledging it and understanding it, and above all transcending it together, is the best way to guarantee that it does not-and cannot-happen again. Desmond Tutu, Foreword to RECONCILIATION AFTER VIOLENT CONFLICr: A HANDBOOK (David Bloomfield et al. eds., 2003).

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