NEW YORK (27 October 2023) – The vast majority of countries that have laws and policies targeting individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity have inherited these practices from the legacy of colonisation, a UN expert said.

“Most colonial projects regulated sexuality and gender as part of their broader enterprise to dominate peoples and territories, and colonisation processes account for varied forms of violence and discrimination against individuals of diverse sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In his report to the General Assembly, Madrigal-Borloz said the imposition of such norms was used as a tool for social control to reinforce discriminatory hierarchies using the law against persons characterised as deviant. While the law played a pivotal role in social control, he found that it was also at the base of complex systems of socialisation that included policing, medicine, literature and education, all placed at the service of controlling sexuality and gender in the colonies.

Read full article: UN expert calls for scrapping of colonial laws and policies that marginalise LGBT persons