Because We Are Human

Offers a complete empirical account of US government programs, policies, and interventions outside the United States on behalf of the human rights of LGBTQ people.

Finalist for the 2018 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the LGBT category

Around the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people continue to be threatened, attacked, arrested, tortured, and sometimes executed just for being sexual or gender minorities. Since the final months of the Clinton administration, agencies and officials of the US government have been engaging in programs and projects whose stated purposes are to serve goals of justice and equity for LGBTQ people outside the United States. Because We Are Human gives readers an inside look at US sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) human rights assistance programs. Cynthia Burack explores settings where indigenous and transnational human rights advocates meet to fund and strategize SOGI human rights movements. This book also examines key arguments against these programs, policies, and interventions that originate on both the conservative right and the progressive academic left. Burack ultimately recommends support for a US commitment to SOGI human rights and programs that serve the needs of LGBTQ people.

Cynthia Burack is Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the Ohio State University. She is the author of Sin, Sex, and Democracy: Antigay Rhetoric and the Christian Right and Tough Love: Sexuality, Compassion, and the Christian Right, both also published by SUNY Press.