Peer-reviewed
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights: the search for an international strategy
Many social and political movements go international at a certain point in their history. The international gay and lesbian movement was rather late in stepping into the international arena. The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) was founded in 1978, but it was not until the 1990s that the movement gained access to the European Union (EU) and managed to get the issue on the EU agenda. At the United Nations (UN), that fight still continues. This contribution explores and seeks to explain why the international lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement has been more successful in lobbying the EU than the UN. It argues that the LGBT movement appears to use many of the same entrepreneurial tactics as well as the same human rights framing at both the EU and the UN, but differences in the political opportunity structures of the two institutions explain why the demands of LGBT groups have made their way onto the agenda in the EU, but not in the UN
Article, 2009
Taylor & Francis, 2009