Gay rights as human rights

Yuvraj Joshi (UCL Laws), Editor-in-Chief of the UCL Jurisprudence Review , highlights the international perspectives and eminent speakers at a panel to launch the UK's first student law journal. 'Even today, not a single international human rights convention anywhere in the world explicitly and specifically affirms equality and non-discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.' So said Peter Tatchell, global human rights activist and a co-founder of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) direct action group OutRage, who spoke at an international panel discussion on gay rights as human rights at UCL on 15 October. The event was hosted by UCL's Jurisprudence Review, the first student law journal of the UK at the UCL Faculty of Laws, and was chaired by Sir John Dyson of the UK Supreme Court. In light of ongoing gay rights debates around the world, the panel explored some reasons for the marginal status of gay issues within the law. The panel was attended by over 150 students, academics as well as members of civil society, including Human Rights Watch, International Lesbian and Gay Association and Liberty. The event, which launched the 16th volume of the Jurisprudence Review, was presented in association with Herbert Smith LLP. Mr Tatchell went on: 'The best we have is that the general equal treatment provisions of some international conventions, most notably the European Convention on Human Rights, have been interpreted to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.