Evolution of the Rights of Sexual Minorities in the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights

It is known that the enforcement of the rights of sexual minorities by court has presented many challenges to all parties involved. The main reason for this is that the constitutions of most countries do not contain a provision that could be applied in a non-disputable way before the judiciary. In the absence of an express constitutional provision, legal arguments for the protection of the rights of sexual minorities are meant to fill the missing constitutional provisions. So does the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which is based on the prohibition of discrimination, the protection of privacy and other fundamental human rights. The aim of the research is to point out what legal progress has been made in Europe in the examined field. The analysis will begin with the first cases regarding sexual rights, continue with the case of Dudgeon v. United Kingdom, in which the European Court of Human Rights found that criminalizing homosexual relationships is against the principles laid down by the Convention, and finally, turn to the so called second and third line cases, such as the Schalk and Kopf v. Austria case, or the Oliari and others v. Italy case, presented in the following part.