LGBTQ+ rights in peacebuilding, transitional justice and beyond

In this conversation, Costa Rican lawyer Victor Madrigal-Borloz shares insights about the current political moment for LGBTQ+ rights, with attention to the specific contexts of peacebuilding and transitional justice. He brings to bear his uniquely multidimensional perspective given his broad trajectory of work, including his six-year appointment (2018–2023) as UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. He highlights his central analysis of the institutional drivers of violence and discrimination and how bias works as a weapon of war. Furthermore, he explicates his analytical understanding of how political discourses can be instrumentalized to create others unworthy of the guarantee of rights. Given his experience at multiple levels of scale, he contextualizes the generalized overemphasis on the U.S. experience of democratic backsliding and authoritarianism. Madrigal-Borloz provides a powerful corrective that honours the complexity of sexual and gender politics globally by bringing our attention to the concentric circles of experience, from the interpersonal to the global. Relatedly, Madrigal-Borloz emphasizes the key roles of giving individual testimony and occupying public space to gain visibility, and support and defend LGBTIQ+ rights.