Posted on June 7, 2023 | I was interviewed about my book Queer Diplomacy in the June 2023 edition of The World Today. I have posted the interview below. The magazine is published by Chatham House, the headquarters for the Royal Institute of International Affairs. After the interview, I was given a tour of the stunning 18th century mansion overlooking St James’s Square, the home of three UK Prime Ministers and known by diplomats and politicians around the world as the birthplace of the “Chatham House Rules.” Canadian philanthropists donated it to the Institute 100 years ago. Douglas Janoff: ‘Gay diplomats willingly visit anti-LGBTQ countries’ The Canadian Foreign Service officer tells Mike Higgins about queer diplomats’ difficult postings and the perception that LGBTQ rights are a western imposition. Originally published by The World Today, June 2, 2023 by Mike Higgins, Senior Content Editor. Queer Diplomacy: Homophobia, International Relations and LGBT Human RightsDouglas Janoff, Palgrave Macmillan, £89.99. In ‘Queer Diplomacy’, Douglas Janoff examines LGBTQ human rights diplomacy from the perspective of diplomats, LGBTQ activists, human rights experts and specialists in multilateral diplomacy. Janoff was appointed to Canada’s Foreign Service in 2009, with diplomatic postings to Washington, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 1984 you were protesting for gay rights outside the United Nations in New York, and 30 years later you were promoting LGBTQ issues inside the same building as a diplomat. How does that progress feel to you? When we were marching many western countries still had laws that criminalized sexual orientation. Same-sex marriage was unheard of. There was rampant violence and discrimination, and few laws that prevented discrimination against LGBTQ people. The trans element was completely invisible. But there was some space for a tiny core to discuss, protest and create a sense of solidarity with LGBTQ people in countries where it was still ‘the love that dare not speak its name’. I wonder if people take for granted how recently that international movement coalesced. The turning point was Hillary Clinton’s speech in December 2011 at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva when she said gay rights are human rights. That meant that even those opposed to LGBTQ rights in international politics realized that this was an issue that needed to be taken seriously. Clinton’s speech crystallized a lot of progress in these rights around the world, particularly around the accession of states to the European Union. Domestically throughout the 1990s and 2000s the tide was rising – every time a country strengthened laws protecting LGBTQ populations, it had a trickle-up effect into foreign ministries. How has your own experience as a gay man informed your career as a diplomat for the Canadian foreign service? I am fortunate that I work in an environment where it is illegal to discriminate against anyone else because of issues of sexual orientation, gender identity or race. But we are working on these issues in a complex diplomatic environment with LGBTQ diplomats from other countries. Some are in the closet because they could lose their jobs if they Read more