LGBQ people and social justice

Justice—whether social or criminal—is predicated on the inviolability and universality of human rights. Since the 1960s, the UN has operationalized the concept of social justice as the basic human right to “the fair and compassionate distribution of the fruits of economic growth.” While maldistribution of resources may influence how LGBQ people experience social justice, as with any other of the rights afforded to all humans, social justice requires recognition. For many people of diverse sexualities, recognition has been eschewed for much of the UN’s history, and the recognition of LGBQ people in human rights discourses remains controversial and veiled in the language of “other status.” Even today, non-normative sexuality is barely mentioned in human rights instruments, is criminalized in some jurisdictions, and those who act on their attractions can be subject to extreme violence, including violence from criminal justice actors. Within these contexts, it is therefore timely to query and queer our understandings of social justice.