Courting Gender Justice

Women and the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community in Russia and Turkey face pervasive discrimination. Only a small percentage dare to challenge their mistreatment in court. Facing domestic police and judges who often refuse to recognize discrimination, a tiny minority of activists have exhausted their domestic appeals and then turned to their last hope: the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The ECtHR, located in Strasbourg, France, is widely regarded as the most effective international human rights court in existence. Russian citizens whose rights have been violated at home have brought tens of thousands of cases to the ECtHR in the last 20 years. But only one of these cases resulted in a finding of gender discrimination—and that case was brought by a man. By comparison, the Court has found gender discrimination more frequently in decisions on Turkish cases. Courting Gender Justice explores the obstacles that confront those who try to use domestic and international law to fight gender and sexual orientation discrimination in Russia and Turkey, and sheds light on the factors that make legal victories possible both at home and abroad. Based on interviews with human rights and feminist activists and lawyers in both countries, this engaging book grounds the law in the experiences of individual people fighting to defend their rights.