International LGBT Rights Movement, The: A History

New Approaches to International History

by Laura A. Belmonte, Thomas W. Zeiler (Series Editor)

During the past four decades, the international lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights movement has made significant advances, but millions of LGBT people continue to live in fear in nations where homosexuality remains illegal. The International LGBT Rights Movement offers a comprehensive account of this global force, from its origins in the mid-nineteenth century to its crucial place in world affairs today. Belmonte examines the movement's goals, the disputes about its mission, and its rise to international importance.

The International LGBT Rights Movement provides a thorough introduction to the movement's history, highlighting key figures, controversies, and organizations. With a global scope that considers both state and non-state actors, the book explores transnational movements to challenge homophobia, while also assessing the successes and failures of these efforts along the way.

Genres: Queer, History

250 pages, Paperback

Published January 14, 2021

Reviews

[E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met Laura Belmonte when we were both LGBT rights activists on the front lines in Oklahoma in the Aughts. She was a professor at Oklahoma State University who helped organize advocacy organizations in Tulsa and statewide, while I was a pastor and activist in Oklahoma City. She's now the Dean of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech.

This book is the first international history of the LGBT rights movement. And Laura does a marvelous job of covering all the major movements, turning points, and trends. I can imagine she had material for a much larger book than the editors and publishers provided, and that would have been engaging as well.

I've always been very focused on local activism wherever I've lived, rarely engaging much in larger national efforts. So it was insightful to see how the work I've done has participated in and been influenced by these global efforts.

[Valkanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a good, if somewhat dry, overview of achievements made by different lgbt rights groups in different countries and of ILGA and lobby at the UN. It was mostly lacking, however, in descriptions and analysis of the international movement of lgbt rights, as it did not really describe how cooperation came about, how groups supported each other, what importance such support had. Also a seemingly random focus on US immigration and lobby on it, compared to all sorts of other achievements of the LGBT rights movement.

[Quinn Aeryn Huffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book feels like a book that is going to be expanded with more content every few years, and I'm here for it. Loved how informative it was. Stories were kind of all over the place, which is kind of to be expected, given the subject, but only a little bit difficult to follow as a person with ADHD. It did a pretty good job of keeping my attention most of the time. It had an academic tone.

I would have liked some more general summaries or maybe a little more cultural context in parts, but I did learn a lot. I feel like parts of the book were really well written and brought the time/cultures to life, and others felt just like a recitation of the facts, or maybe I was just speed reading and not very good at it?

As a member of the LGBT community, most of our history is really difficult to read about, and scary to think about. But it really helped to know that the author was a member of the LGBT community. And she did a good job of not letting it get too heavy.