A Promise of Human Freedom: Synergies Between the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief and LGBTQI+ Rights

Marie Juul Petersen is a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

Dmytro Vovk is a visiting professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

A version of this blog post appeared previously on Open Global Rights.

In June 2023, the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) presented his report on SOGI-related violence and discrimination and the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB).

The report is much needed, as the relationship between FoRB and rights related to sexual orientation and gender identity is widely seen as one of antagonism and controversy by both FoRB actors and the LGBTQI+ community. At the same time, both rights are crucial for ensuring individuals’ freedom to live their own lives in the manner they choose. This has been emphasised by the UN Special Rapporteur on FoRB, together with other UN Special Rapporteurs, in a 2021 joint statement asserting that “the right to freedom of religion or belief and the right to live free from violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity are both built on a promise of human freedom.”

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Human Rights for Everyone, Everywhere: The Report of the Independent Expert on Protection Against Violence and Discrimination Based on Sexuality and Gender

Christine M. Venter is a teaching professor at Notre Dame Law School and affiliated faculty in Gender Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Among the fundamental core concepts underpinning human rights is the concept that they are indivisible and interdependent. This precept is sorely tested when proponents of religious liberty and LGBTQ+ rights respectively assert that their group’s rights trump the rights of other groups. At a conference last year in Rome, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito asserted that “[r]eligious liberty is under attack in many places because it is dangerous to those who want to hold complete power.” Alito is not alone in his assessment; headlines abound about the threats to religious liberty,whether by the Chinese government in its persecution of Uyghurs, India’s attacks on Muslims, or acts of vandalism against Catholic Churches. The belief that religious liberty is under threat, coupled with incidents like the leak of the Dobbs decision, has created an atmosphere of fear and mistrust. Alito went on to speculate that religiously motivated attacks “probably grow out of something dark and deep in the human DNA—the tendency to distrust and dislike people who are not like ourselves.”

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Freedom of Religious Expression, Hate Speech, and Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Montserrat Gas-Aixendri is a full professor of law and religion at Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain).

The 2023 Report of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity [1] examines the intersection between freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief and protection from violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The mandate recognizes the importance of respecting religious value systems and demonstrates a commendable commitment to safeguarding religious freedom for everyone, including individuals with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

As W. Cole Durham, Jr., points out, the conflicts arising from competing claims of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) have been key issues in the ongoing “culture wars” for quite some time. Dealing with this clash in a thematic report for the United Nations requires careful judgment and equilibrium.

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