Queer Consequences: The Making of Global Norms — Mainstreaming Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and Sex Characteristics at the United Nations

Author

Ariel G. Mekler, CUNY Graduate CenterFollow

Date of Degree

6-2025

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Political Science

Advisor

Thomas G. Weiss

Committee Members

Peter Romaniuk

Paisley Currah

Subject Categories

Gender and Sexuality | International Relations | Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies | Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Political Science | Politics and Social Change | Queer Studies

Keywords

The United Nations, LGBTIQ+/SOGIESC issues, Global Norm Making and Diffusion, Human Rights

Abstract

My dissertation aims to understand two interrelated points: how efforts to integrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer+/ sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics (LGBTIQ+/SOGIESC) issues at the UN affect the recognition of these issues across the Organization and the broader system, and how UN recognition of LGBTIQ+/SOGIESC issues impacts international norm diffusion within and across the UN. I argue that UN recognition of LGBTIQ+/SOGIESC issues has never followed a uniform, linear process. Multiple actors advance established, emerging, and contested normative assertion claims in various ways and at different times. Actors seeking to promote international norms make recognition appeals visible by leveraging international human rights mechanisms or incorporating innovative frameworks that operate independently of rights-based claims, such as intersectionality, bodily autonomy, or queer/feminist theory. Those opposed respond with various rhetorical maneuvers and direct actions within member state bodies. I show that the predilection for linking LGBTIQ+/SOGIESC issues to human rights frameworks generates a range of outcomes that do not fit neatly into beneficial or unfavorable categories, thereby necessitating an examination of intra- and inter-group contestation. Furthermore, I demonstrate that the creation of global norms is not solely attributed to the internalization of norms at the domestic level and member state acceptance but also to how UN staff and civil society actors disrupt and penetrate the boundaries between state authority and normative development. This occurs through a horizontal diffusion process, which I call SOGIESC mainstreaming. Specifically, I explore how member states, international civil servants, and civil society actors make established and emerging normative assertions about rights, representational changes, and issue legitimacy claims by leveraging international human rights mechanisms and incorporating frameworks independent of rights-based appeals.

Recommended Citation

Mekler, Ariel G., "Queer Consequences: The Making of Global Norms — Mainstreaming Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and Sex Characteristics at the United Nations" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6260