BOOKS - Are We ‘Persons' Yet? Law and Sexuality in Canada
Are We ‘Persons
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Are We ‘Persons' Yet? Law and Sexuality in Canada
Author: Kathleen A. Lahey
Year: August 21, 1999
Format: PDF
File size: PDF 27 MB
Language: English

In 1929, the Privy Council of Canada declared that women were persons under the British North America Act. Seventy years later, a similar move is afoot to establish 'constitutional personhood' for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, and transgendered people. In Are We Persons Yet?, Kathleen A. Lahey documents the minimal extent to which human rights laws have improved the legal status of sexual minorities in Canada. She argues that, despite the significant legal progress made with the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the traditional legal definition of persons continues to limit the legal, social, economic, and political freedom of queer people.Using an interdisciplinary approach, Lahey presents a historical analysis of litigation relating to sexuality and of the most recent constitutional decisions on sexuality in Canada and the United States. Further discussion concerns immigration law, inheritance law, and same-sex marriage, as well as the widespread exclusion of queers from government census and other statistical surveys. Are We Persons Yet? provides an excellent model for the analysis of discrimination on the basis of sex, race, sexuality, and marital status and a valuable reference for academics and activists alike.

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