Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Michigan, 2006. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p.220-230).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Michigan, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p.220-230).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Manitoba, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-151).

It is wrong to interfere with the rights of conscience and association of homosexuals in the United States. A large faction in this country intends to amend the Constitution of the United States in such a way that a portion of its fellow citizens, identified as homosexuals, will be excluded from the legal and social benefits conferred upon individuals who choose to be married. The social and moral arguments supporting this legislation are only partial considerations of . the case, and are insufficient in providing the necessary grounds upon which exclusion would. be acceptable. I base this conclusion on the contention that America's founding principles are dedicated to preserving individualism and reform, and that it is necessary to safeguard each · citizen from the cabals of the majority. To support this contention, I have differentiated between a Pluralist-Liberal conception of freedom, which supports the expansion of liberty where it is argued that reform is · necessary, and an Exclusivist-Conservative conception of freedom, which supports the preservation of the fault lines that separate individual freedom and social concerns. I draw from John Rawls1 Political Liberalism, and J. S. Mills' On Liberty, and compare their theories about the proper functions of a free democracy with the writings of America's founding fathers. I ·also give attention to historical cases in which the Exclusivist-Conservative arguments, presented as social concern, were revealed to defend nothing more than status and prejudice. Given the context of a pluralistic democracy, which more strongly accommodates the alternate conception, the use of historical examples is · intended to show, by comparison, the deficiencies of the E-C argument against homosexual rights.

Thesis (M.S.) in Human Development--University of Maine, 2008. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-48).

This thesis challenges the restrictive definition of ‘gay’ used in legal discourse, argues for the adoption of a broader definition that is inclusive of more gay individuals, and demonstrates that the adoption of a broader definition would help frame gay rights debates in a way that is more acceptable to both progressives and conservatives. Current legal arguments for gay rights use ‘gay’ to refer almost solely to individuals that have exclusively—largely immutable—same-sex erotic desires. However, ‘gay’ should be understood to include a more diverse group of individuals. Thus, the current restrictive use of the term ‘gay’ either captures too many people or too few. Too many people, for conservatives, because gay rights are extended to many gay individuals that are not included in the restrictive definition. Too few people, for progressives, because the restrictive use of the term ‘gay’ doesn’t capture the entire gay community.

This thesis examines how transnational gay and queer discourses conceal ongoing forms of violence against multiple subaltern populations, through the seemingly natural teleology and progressive nature assigned to gay rights and queerness. I use the theoretical framework of necropolitics, developed by Achille Mbembe who analyzes how power is exercised through killing and death, to examine two sites of violence that are typically presented as progressive: transnational gay rights and queer tourism. First, I demonstrate that the problem of ‘anti-gay’ violence in non-western subaltern contexts is not due to a lack of legal rights, as most western activists have framed the issue, but is rather an issue of non-controlled forms of lateral violence carried out by non-state actors against multiple groups. Second, I reveal that the representation of queer tourism as progressive masks subjection of subaltern labourers to violence and death. These findings suggest that relations of power constituted through necropolitics should be the lens through which violence in subaltern contexts is read. This perspective is in opposition to most western based transnational discourses that misread and disregard forms of violence in subaltern contexts and consequently facilitate the recurrence of violence in these contexts. / Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2013-06-21 12:17:17.871

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Concordia University, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [348]-378).

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