Sexual Orientation, Same-Sex Marriage, and International Human Rights Law

To appreciate the significance of the implications of the T.A.P.P. theory in the following chapters, we must first broaden our perspective. The aims of this chapter are twofold. Part I will examine the extent that sexual orientation discrimination is protected under international and regional instruments and the position of same-sex marriage within these frameworks. As the European human rights system has a long history of determining issues relating to sexual orientation, the chapter examines whether its early history of rejecting claims echoes the current rejection of sexual minority rights under the African human rights system. In Part II, the pre-colonial concept of human rights, the role of the communitarian philosophy and the limitations it places on the recognition of same-sex marriage will be considered, along with the concept of cultural relativism as a mechanism for rejecting marriage equality.