Co-Chair
Robert Ellison
Co-Chair
D'Arcy Kemnitz
LGBTQI+ Law Committee
The LGBTI+ Law Committee focuses on the unique legal challenges that individuals may face within various jurisdictions, by reason of their sexuality, gender identity or gender expression. The committee also aims promote diversity and inclusiveness in the legal profession and society at large.
About the Committee
The LGBTQI+ Law Committee tracks developments, advancements and setbacks in various legal areas, including discrimination, criminalisation, family rights, recognition and status, identity, health, immigration, housing and employment, among others. The Committee also recognizes and reflects upon the legal implications of cultural and socio-economic issues to LGBTQI+ interests.
The Committee aims to also promote diversity and inclusiveness in the legal profession and society at large by presenting LGBTQI+ ideals and calling attention to legal matters and developments through its sessions, publications, projects and collaborations with other committees in the IBA, as well as with external parties. The Committee welcomes not only LGBTQI+ individuals, but allies as well. We encourage all persons interested in our projects to join the Committee.
Publications
IBA Annual Conference in Paris – LGBTQI+ Law Committee panels
A conference report on the IBA LGBTQI+ Law Committee panels at the IBA Annual Conference in Paris, October–November 2023.
Released on Nov 22, 2023
Proposed workplace fairness legislation in Singapore leaves LGBTQI+ employees unprotected
The Singapore government has recently announced that it will introduce a workplace anti-discrimination legislation in Parliament in the second half of 2024. Unfortunately, the proposed anti-discrimination legislation excludes prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC).
Released on Aug 28, 2023
France adopts new law prohibiting conversion therapies
At the beginning of 2023, France joined a handful of countries by adopting a specific law prohibiting practices aimed at modifying a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, creating a criminal offence, with a clear definition and scope of conversion therapies. The Public Health Code was also amended accordingly.
Released on Aug 28, 2023
Marriage equality and Indian employment law
The movement towards securing rights for the LGBTQI+ community in India has been a subject of both progress and challenges. For years, the LGBTQI+ community has strived to attain recognition, equality and non-discrimination. In recent years, there has been tremendous progress in recognising rights of LGBTQI+people in India, and a growing awareness of the importance of inclusivity and diversity.
Released on Aug 28, 2023
Past conferences - summaries
Annual Conference 2019 - Seoul
Our sessions at the IBA Annual Conference in Seoul in September 2019 were part of the wider Diversity and Inclusivity themed day of the IBA. The morning session, 'Asian values and legal systems', dealt with the opportunities and setbacks for advancement of LGBTQI+ rights and interests in enterprises, employment, immigration, property relations, and related matters as a joint session with Diversity and Equality Law Committee.
The afternoon panel for the session 'From East to West', co-sponsored by the Family Law Committee, discussed the recent advancements and issues pertaining to transgender and binary people’s rights in different parts of the world, in particular the right to identity, the right to change name, the right to marry or enter into marriage or civil unions, and non-discrimination.
Annual Conference 2018 - Rome
In Rome, our committee focused on the matter of strategic litigation on Tuesday 8 October 2018 and discussed the widely known landmark cases such as Windsor and Obergefell. Speaker Shannon Minter, NCLR, San Francisco, CA, gave insights as to the pre-planning of the long-term goal to improve legal rights of LGBTQI+ persons and picking up cases and strategy to bring cases to court to achieve full equality and marriage rights.
Our session in Rome on state-sponsored or state-condoned violence against women, LGBTQI+ and other minorities on Wednesday 9 October 2018 raised the very fundamental question whether there need to be changes to the patriarchal base of human societies. The session was co-sponsored by the Human Rights Law Committee, Family Law Committee and Crimes Against Women Subcommittee and received by a broad audience.
Subcommittees and other groups
The LGBTQI+ Law Committee also coordinates the activities of the following subcommittees/working groups.
- LGBTQI+ Law Committee Advisory Board