Over the course of the past decade, Latin America has made great strides toward ensuring equal rights for LGBT people. Several countries across the region have legalized same-sex marriage and recognized LGBT people as a protected class on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. Activists secured these rights gains by arguing that the right to equality and nondiscrimination lies at the core of modern liberal democracy. As such, this right has provided the chief legal basis for advancing LGBT rights. The anti-gender backlash that has swept across Latin America in recent years poses a clear threat to LGBT rights, particularly because anti-rights actors are attempting to coopt equality and nondiscrimination claims to further their reactionary agendas. This paper aims to identify the equality arguments marshaled by anti-rights groups, analyze their role in the potential legal reconfiguration of this right, and assess how public law could intervene to prevent such an outcome.
We look forward to welcoming you on July 3-5, 2023 for our Annual Conference entitled "Islands and Ocean: Public Law in a Plural World." The conference will take place at the Victoria University of Wellington, in New Zealand.
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