Professor Ryan Thoreson: Protecting LGBTQIA+ Rights and Human Dignity

Across the United States and around the world, legal protections for LGBTQIA+ communities are being tested in ways that would have been difficult to imagine just a decade ago. Courtrooms have become battlegrounds over gender identity, conversion therapy, marriage equality, and the recognition of queer families. At the same time, governments in dozens of countries continue to criminalize same-sex relationships and, in some cases, impose the death penalty. In this episode of Human Rights: Conversations Across Generations, we welcome Professor Ryan Thoreson, Associate Professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, Deputy Editor of Human Rights Quarterly, and colleague of our co-host, Professor Bert B. Lockwood. Before joining UC, Ryan served as Senior Researcher in the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, where he spent more than a decade documenting human rights abuses and advancing LGBTQIA+ rights around the world. He is the author of Transnational LGBT Activism: Working for Sexual Rights Worldwide and co-editor of The SAGE Handbook of Global Sexualities. Today, Ryan's scholarship and teaching focus on constitutional law, international human rights law, and the evolving legal landscape surrounding LGBTQIA+ rights. Ryan reflects on the experiences that first drew him to human rights, from growing up in North Dakota to witnessing the fight for marriage equality as a college student. Those early moments continue to shape how he approaches constitutional law, scholarship, and the classroom today. Together, we examine the rapidly changing legal landscape surrounding conversion therapy, marriage equality, anti-trans legislation, and the criminalization of same-sex relationships. Drawing on years of documenting human rights abuses, Ryan reflects on the power of listening. Behind every court decision is a person, a family, and a lived experience that deserves to be seen with dignity. The discussion also turns to Human Rights Quarterly, where Ryan serves as Deputy Editor alongside Professor Lockwood. Together, they reflect on the journal's enduring role in advancing global human rights. SHOW NOTES EPISODE TRANSCRIPT PDF Ryan Thoreson: Website University of Cincinnati College of Law: Ryan Thoreson Faculty Profile Human Rights Quarterly, Johns Hopkins University Press Human Rights Watch: Ryan Thoreson Transnational LGBT Activism: Working for Sexual Rights Worldwide, University of Minnesota Press The Dream of a Common Movement: Selected Writings of Urvashi Vaid, Human Rights Quarterly Book Review The SAGE Handbook of Global Sexualities Can Global LGBTQ Rights Jurisprudence Survive the Authoritarian Turn? Jotwell: Equality Newsweek: Supreme Court to Hear New Case Tied to Same-Sex Couples Newsweek: Map Shows States Banning Transgender Athletes as Supreme Court Rules Cincinnati Edition, WVXU: What Impact Could a SCOTUS Decision Have on Cincinnati's Conversion Therapy Ban? Matthew Shepard Foundation | Our Story Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 - Human Dignity Trust