Nita Arulraj Achari, Our Own English, Sharjah
ABSTRACT
The paper aims to provide a comparative study of the problems faced by the LGBTQ+ community in Asia and North America. We live in an era, where human rights are considered to be of utmost importance, and the majority of countries have signed core human rights treaties. On one hand, we have countries committing to such rights, and on the other hand, about 71 countries have criminalized homosexuality, making human rights a distant reality for the third gender. The LGBTQ+ people have been discriminated against, treated as criminals, ostracised, and subjected to hate crimes even in the past, and even now. Upon careful research, it was found, that the third gender continues to face several challenges even in countries, that have decriminalized homosexuality. For this paper, the author has reviewed the problems faced by homosexuals in three countries in Asia: India, China, and Israel, and three countries in North America: Canada, Mexico, and the USA. In Asia, India has been more accepting of the third gender, with time. The Indian judiciary, in its landmark judgments, like the NALSA judgment, has decriminalized homosexuality and has also prohibited discrimination against them. However, the Indian judgments are limited in their scope, with same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples being illegal. China’s disregard for human rights is well-known. It is not surprising when on careful analysis, the author found that China is still hostile towards the third gender. Although homosexuality is decriminalized in China, there is no legal framework prohibiting discrimination and hate crimes against them. With homosexuality being criminalized in most countries in the Middle East,1 Israel has not only decriminalized it but has also ensured that the third gender is integrated into society. However, there is room for progress, especially in the conservative areas of Israel. In the case of North America, Canada has been a pioneer in creating an inclusive society for the LGBTQ+ community, with same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples being legal. As nothing is perfect, the LGBTQ+ community still faces several challenges in Canada which have been discussed in the paper. Although Mexico has decriminalized homosexuality, it still faces barriers to achieving equality for the community mainly due to a lack of enforcement of laws in all Mexican states. In the USA, LGBTQ+ laws vary from state to state due to which the community is still subjected to a set of challenges. This paper will leave the readers with a clear idea of the prevalent challenges faced by the third gender and the efficacy of laws enforced to uplift them.
