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The historical bond between democracy and LGBT+ rights is unraveling globally. With gender and sexuality issues gaining political prominence, anti-LGBT+ forces are exploiting democratic institutions — both majoritarian and nonmajoritarian — to successfully curtail LGBT+ rights. Can democracy still protect and advance LGBT+ rights? This essay contends that as recent empirical developments challenge the longstanding connection between democracy and LGBT+ rights, they also call for a conceptual reassessment. Rather than viewing LGBT+ rights as an outcome of democracy, this essay proposes treating them as constitutive of democracy, particularly in its liberal form. It further offers normative as well as pragmatic justifications for this conceptual shift.
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