This Italian version of this article is online at www.articolo29.it/genius, the English version at scholarship.law.duke.edu/djcil/vol24/iss1/4, the Dutch version at hdl.handle.net/1887/24920, and...Show moreThis Italian version of this article is online at www.articolo29.it/genius, the English version at scholarship.law.duke.edu/djcil/vol24/iss1/4, the Dutch version at hdl.handle.net/1887/24920, and the Vietnamese version at hdl.handle.net/1887/24934.The right to establish and develop relationships with other human beings was first articulated — as an aspect of the right to respect for private life — by the European Commission of Human Rights (in 1976). Since then such a right has been recognised in similar words by national and international courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court (Roberts v. U.S. Jaycees), the European Court of Human Rights (Niemietz v. Germany), the Constitutional Court of South Africa (National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality), and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Ortega v. Mexico). This lecture traces the origins of this right, linking it to the meaning of the word ‘orientation’ and to the basic psychological need for love, affection and belongingness (Maslow 1943). It proposes to speak of ‘the right to relate’, and argues that this right can be seen as the common theme in all issues of sexual orientation law (ranging from decriminalisation and anti-discrimination, to the recognition of refugees and of same-sex parenting). This right can be used as the common denominator in the comparative study of all those laws in the world that are anti-homosexual, or that are same-sex-friendly. The right to establish (same-sex) relationships implies both a right to come out, and a right to come together. The right to develop (same-sex) relationships is being made operational through legal respect, legal protection, legal recognition, legal formalization, and legal recognition of foreign formalization. Show less
