Abstract

This paper examines the calls for the international legal recognition and protection of rights for homosexual men and women. To undertake such an examination, the paper utilises theoretical paradigms from within the field of postcolonial studies. Opening with an overview of the theoretical bases and preconceptions of postcolonial analysis, the paper then examines the extant bases for the protection of the rights of homosexuals at international law. It then goes on to examine Dutch-American scholar Eric Heinze's calls for atreaty-based instrument to codify and enforce principles of non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in international law. The paper argues that while homosexual rights are indeed worthy of protection at international law, the current means by which they are protected, and the current proposals for international legal reform in this area, articulate colonialist and specifically Western understandings of homosexuality and sexual orientation.