"Sexual orientation" is increasingly used as a prohibited ground for discrimination. The aim of this thesis is to show that this notion is being challenged both at the theoretical and implementation level. As a ground, "sexual orientation" ought to be replaced by "sex", as meaning the social construction of biological sex, in other words, "gender". / First, this thesis exposes the history of "sexual orientation", and then the problems faced by Canadian and international courts when trying to implement it. "Sexual orientation" is then analysed within the broader perspective of the traditional liberal discourse on minorities. That perspective shows that LGBT communities are submitted to criteria established by the majority, therefore regulating their existence. / Finally, the thesis draws on the analysis of scholars who think that those criteria are, in fact, part of a broader discourse aiming at perpetuating the domination of "male" over "female" and that discrimination of LGBT communities is in fact motivated by "gender".

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