Edinburgh Law School celebrates book launch of "Justice After Stonewall"

On 8 December 2023, Edinburgh Law School hosted the official launch of "Justice After Stonewall: LGBT Life Between Challenge and Change", a book co-edited by the Law School's Dr Paul Behrens and Sean Becker LLM, an alumnus of the School.

The book, which was published by Routledge earlier this year, reflects on developments in LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) matters in the 50 years since the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York, which were a turning point in LGBT history. It includes perspectives from the fields of history, politics, sociology, education, language, religion, medicine and law, and brings together prominent scholars as well as experienced practitioners from other walks of life.

The book launch was attended by several authors who talked about their chapters and provided updates on developments that had happened since their publication. Some of the authors in attendance included:

• Sir Stephen Wall (former UK Permanent Representative to the European Union and former Chair of the Kaleidoscope Trust) spoke about his chapter on 'The Development of the LGBT+ Community in the UK in the Last 50 Years'.
• Prof Kenneth Norrie (Emeritus Professor at the University of Strathclyde) spoke about the chapter on 'Changing Perceptions of Homosexuality as Revealed by the Law of Defamation in Scotland', which he had written for the book. 
• Dr Lynne Regan (University of Kent), who had written about her (then) pilot study entitled 'Investigating the Experiences of Transgender Students in Higher Education in the UK' provided information about the further developments of this project, in the course of which she also presented a series of webinars on this subject. 
• Dr Carin Tunåker (Kent Law School), author of the chapter on 'LGBT+ Youth Homelessness as a Consequence of Progress', provided updates on this topic in her talk. 
• Dr Andrew Hayward and Prof Helen Fenwick (both at Durham University), who had written the chapter on 'The Intrinsic Value of Registered Partnerships and Marriage for Same-Sex Couples, Their Recognition Domestically and at the Strasbourg Court' discussed recent developments in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, including cases that were decided on the matter of the legal recognition of same-sex marriage against Russia, Romania and Ukraine. 
• Dr  Dora Jandrić (University of Birmingham), author of the chapter ‘That’s Really Why I Got Married I Guess’: Heteronormativity and Openness About Same-Sex Coupledom', joined the debate and gave an update of her chapter.
• Rabbi Mark Solomon (Minister of the Edinburgh and Leicester Liberal Jewish communities), who had co-written the chapter 'Jewish Approaches to LGBT+ in Texts, Culture and Ritual', gave updates on developments in this field, in particular on the legal recognition of Jewish same-sex marriages.

The book launch was chaired by Dr Behrens, who also provided updates on the topic of his chapter ('False Therapy, Real Harm: Aspects of Conversion Practices and Their Evaluation') in view of recent developments in this field in Scotland.

Dr Behrens said: "Our thanks go to all the authors who worked so very hard to bring this book to fruition, as well as to the editing team at Routledge, in particular to Dr Colin Perrin, who agreed to include the work in the GlassHouse list and Naomi Round Cahalin who guided us through the publication process. For the book launch, our particular thanks go to Professor Nehal Bhuta and the Edinburgh Centre for International and Global Law who very kindly sponsored this event."

"Justice After Stonewall: LGBT Life Between Challenge and Change" can be ordered from Routledge.

Image credit: Routledge