Sexuality
Rights
Dudgeon
v. United Kingdom, European Court of Human Rights, Series A,
No.45, 23 Sept 1981.
Criminal law prohibiting homosexual conduct interferes with
the right to respect for private life, which includes sexual
life, guaranteed by Article 8(1) of the European Convention
on Human Rights. Any government interference in the most intimate
aspects of private life must be justified by particularly serious
reasons. Details
Toonen
v. Australia, Human Rights Committee, Communication No.488/1992,
31 Mar 1994.
Criminal law prohibiting homosexual conduct violates the right
to privacy in the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights because “any interference with privacy must be
proportional to the end sought and be necessary in the circumstances
of any given case.” Prevention of HIV/AIDS is not a reasonable
justification for such a law. Details
Christine
Goodwin v. United Kingdom, European Court of Human Rights, Application
No. 28957/95, Judgment, Strasbourg, 11 Jul 2002.
Denying legal recognition of a transsexual’s gender reassignment
both violates her right to respect for her private life and
her right to marry and have a family under the European Convention
on Human Rights. For a government to interfere with an individual’s
right to respect for her private life, factors of public interest
must outweigh the individual’s interest.
