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Pride and Prejudices: Queer Lives and the Law
Internationally acclaimed human rights lawyer Keio Yoshida uncovers the ongoing battle for LGBTQ+ rights, how far we’ve come, and how much further we have to go.
The right to life and the right to live life free from discrimination are rights that are codified and legally protected, but — unlike those on women’s rights, disability rights, children’s rights, freedom from torture, and racial discrimination — there is no dedicated and binding treaty or convention in international human rights law with respect to LGBTQ+ rights.
In Pride and Prejudices, Yoshida analyses case law from around the world, including Rosanna Flamer Caldera v Sri Lanka, the first global precedent to call for the decriminalisation of same-sex intimacy between women, in which Yoshida acted as counsel, as well as other timely cases such as the bitter debate over self-ID for trans people in the UK and Florida’s recent ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.
This pivotal book addresses the legal problems that still persist and contribute to the violence and discrimination that the international LGBTQ+ population experiences on a daily basis, and demonstrates what more needs to be done to protect LGBTQ+ communities.
The right to life and the right to live life free from discrimination are rights that are codified and legally protected, but — unlike those on women’s rights, disability rights, children’s rights, freedom from torture, and racial discrimination — there is no dedicated and binding treaty or convention in international human rights law with respect to LGBTQ+ rights.
In Pride and Prejudices, Yoshida analyses case law from around the world, including Rosanna Flamer Caldera v Sri Lanka, the first global precedent to call for the decriminalisation of same-sex intimacy between women, in which Yoshida acted as counsel, as well as other timely cases such as the bitter debate over self-ID for trans people in the UK and Florida’s recent ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.
This pivotal book addresses the legal problems that still persist and contribute to the violence and discrimination that the international LGBTQ+ population experiences on a daily basis, and demonstrates what more needs to be done to protect LGBTQ+ communities.
- GenresNonfictionLGBTPolitics
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 5, 2025
7 people are currently reading
133 people want to read
About the author
Keio Yoshida
2 books1 followerDr Keio Yoshida is an international human rights lawyer and qualified barrister in England and Wales and the Republic of Ireland.
They are currently a senior legal advisor at the Center for Reproductive Rights, and an associate tenant at Doughty Street Chambers. Prior to joining the Center, they worked as a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers on landmark cases on women’s rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. Keio is the co-editor of Feminist Conversations on Peace (BUP, 2022) and co-author with Jennifer Robinson of Silenced Women (Octopus 2023). Keio has published academic articles in the European Human Rights Law Review, International Affairs, and Human Rights Quarterly, and led the FCDO funded project on gender, conflict, and environmental peace.
They are currently a senior legal advisor at the Center for Reproductive Rights, and an associate tenant at Doughty Street Chambers. Prior to joining the Center, they worked as a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers on landmark cases on women’s rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. Keio is the co-editor of Feminist Conversations on Peace (BUP, 2022) and co-author with Jennifer Robinson of Silenced Women (Octopus 2023). Keio has published academic articles in the European Human Rights Law Review, International Affairs, and Human Rights Quarterly, and led the FCDO funded project on gender, conflict, and environmental peace.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 23, 2026
Really informative and interesting. I learned a lot about LGBTQ+ rights in law. I found the chapter on IVF and surrogacy to be particularly fascinating.
September 19, 2025
Intended to read this over a few days but I got really really into it and read the last ~75% all in one go. Skipped a few of the biographical stuff in the beginning but by chapter 4 it kind of fades away and the rest is super interesting and good
August 10, 2025
I found this book so fascinating. I loved learning about all the legal cases and background behind them all. The mix of statistics with personal narrative made it more compelling. I understood why the book mainly focuses on lesbian, gay, trans and nonbinary individuals since any other orientation would benefit or suffer due to laws surrounding those identities. I really enjoyed learning about the history and laws in other countries (even though many of them were devastating). I really liked this one!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2025
Historical accounts of legal change are always, by necessity, selective. The glacial pace of legal progress necessitates an abridgement of exemplary decisions or reforms which best articulate sharp turns in the law.
Pride and Prejudice: Queer Lives and the Law by Irish human rights lawyer Keoi Yoshida, is one attempt to chart the legal evolution of freedoms and dignity afforded to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people across the globe – from the abolition of sodomy laws to allowances given to gender markers on official documents. The text mixes case analysis with memoir to provide both an account of legal transformation along with reflections by the author on the impact of such change on their life and vision for the future.
However, Pride and Prejudice is less an honest account of LGBT legal history than a glimpse into the professional and personal prejudices of its author – enamoured as they are both by an international human rights regime and situating oneself as part of long held struggle for ‘queer’ liberation.
By Yoshida's account, gay rights were gained less by a concerted effort for legislative reform, but through appeals to various constitutional and human "rights". Whilst this is a true account of progress in countries like the United States or India, where appeals to constitutional rights are common place, it is a misleading account of progress in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, where such decisions are far more limited.
Indeed much of this text seems to be designed to justify Yoshida's work making hopeless appeals to human rights authorities to grant LGBT people dignity.
They demonstrate their legal bona fides by recounting their role as counsel in bringing forward the case of Rosanna Flamer-Caldera v Sri Lanka, in which the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women found in 2022 that Sri Lanka’s continued criminalisation of consensual same-sex intimacy between women breached multiple provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Yoshida presents this decision as a watershed moment in queer rights, however criminal laws against homosexuality remain on the books in Sri Lanka given the toothlessness of human rights litigation.
The language of “human rights” takes various twists and turns in Yoshida’s account of legal history. Some of the more inventive ones being the “rights” of gay men to commercial surrogacy or the “rights” of a trans man to be registered as a father on a birth certificate. At one point Yoshida proposes a “right to queer life” which they bemoan “is not a right that exists under international human rights law”.
Such professional binders obscure a more accurate narrative of legal progress for LGBT people, one based on mounting a convincing case for shared humanity and dignity rather than weaponising abstract rights over the populace. An account of democratic wins, rather than legal stratagem, as a mechanism for advancing the public good.
Pride and Prejudice: Queer Lives and the Law by Irish human rights lawyer Keoi Yoshida, is one attempt to chart the legal evolution of freedoms and dignity afforded to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people across the globe – from the abolition of sodomy laws to allowances given to gender markers on official documents. The text mixes case analysis with memoir to provide both an account of legal transformation along with reflections by the author on the impact of such change on their life and vision for the future.
However, Pride and Prejudice is less an honest account of LGBT legal history than a glimpse into the professional and personal prejudices of its author – enamoured as they are both by an international human rights regime and situating oneself as part of long held struggle for ‘queer’ liberation.
By Yoshida's account, gay rights were gained less by a concerted effort for legislative reform, but through appeals to various constitutional and human "rights". Whilst this is a true account of progress in countries like the United States or India, where appeals to constitutional rights are common place, it is a misleading account of progress in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, where such decisions are far more limited.
Indeed much of this text seems to be designed to justify Yoshida's work making hopeless appeals to human rights authorities to grant LGBT people dignity.
They demonstrate their legal bona fides by recounting their role as counsel in bringing forward the case of Rosanna Flamer-Caldera v Sri Lanka, in which the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women found in 2022 that Sri Lanka’s continued criminalisation of consensual same-sex intimacy between women breached multiple provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Yoshida presents this decision as a watershed moment in queer rights, however criminal laws against homosexuality remain on the books in Sri Lanka given the toothlessness of human rights litigation.
The language of “human rights” takes various twists and turns in Yoshida’s account of legal history. Some of the more inventive ones being the “rights” of gay men to commercial surrogacy or the “rights” of a trans man to be registered as a father on a birth certificate. At one point Yoshida proposes a “right to queer life” which they bemoan “is not a right that exists under international human rights law”.
Such professional binders obscure a more accurate narrative of legal progress for LGBT people, one based on mounting a convincing case for shared humanity and dignity rather than weaponising abstract rights over the populace. An account of democratic wins, rather than legal stratagem, as a mechanism for advancing the public good.
August 17, 2025
4.5
thorough look at how the law polices nd punishes queer people - attempts to control through legislation that ignores lived realities
made me emotional at points - outraging but also imbued with joy
also quite a simple easy read despite the content matter
thorough look at how the law polices nd punishes queer people - attempts to control through legislation that ignores lived realities
made me emotional at points - outraging but also imbued with joy
also quite a simple easy read despite the content matter
Read
November 2, 2025This was overall an interesting read but it all kinda falls flat the moment it starts going"surrogacy is actually an LGBT right and look, these people used rich suburban american women as their surrogates it's not all abuse" on and on and on.
Review of advance copy received from Publishers Weekly
This is a great introduction to a variety of legal topics impacting LGBTQ+ equality. Human rights lawyer Keio Yoshida shares their personal story alongside queer history and legal theory, making it really accessible and impactful.
July 27, 2025
So good and so important, really opened my eyes on the absolute uselessness of the legal system
January 1, 2026
Such an informative, accessible and thought provoking overview of key issues in gaining queer recognition within the law. 5 stars!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews