For years, courts that opposed same-sex marriage have relied on the United Nations for support. A new report by UNC School of Law Professor Holning Lau shows, however, that the UN has shifted its position, and the UN can now be cited in support of same-sex marriage. 

Lau, the Willie P. Mangum Distinguished Professor of Law, authored the report through the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. The research examines 96 Concluding Observations issued between 2016 and 2024 by three UN treaty bodies that monitor compliance with international human rights treaties. While those recommendations are nonbinding, domestic courts and lawmakers around the world regularly cite UN treaty bodies as persuasive authority. 

The findings challenge the continued influence of Joslin v. New Zealand, a 2002 UN Human Rights Committee ruling that held international human rights law did not encompass a right to same-sex marriage. Courts have invoked Joslin as recently as 2023, including the UK Privy Council in cases involving Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, and Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal. Lau’s report shows the committee that produced Joslin has spent the past decade moving in the opposite direction. Between 2016 and 2024, UN treaty bodies expressed support for same-sex marriage in 44 Concluding Observations, in some cases characterizing it as a right under the very treaties they oversee. 

“There has been a sea change in how the law treats same-sex couples around the world,” Lau said. “The Concluding Observations this study examines reflect a clear evolution in international human rights standards, one that domestic decision-makers can no longer afford to ignore.” 

The report’s implications are immediate. Japan’s Supreme Court currently has a same-sex marriage case pending, and Japanese courts have previously cited UN human rights bodies. The UN Human Rights Committee has already recommended that Japan legalize same-sex marriage, a recommendation Lau’s report places within a documented global pattern. 

Two Carolina Law students contributed research assistance to the project. Erica Schimmel ’25 and Dex Dexter ’27 helped produce a report that could influence how courts in multiple countries approach marriage equality cases. “I could not have produced this report without their outstanding research assistance,” Lau said. 

The work grows from Lau’s longstanding scholarly focus on LGBTQ issues in international and comparative law, the same questions he brings into the classroom in his courses on International Law of Human Rights and Comparative Constitutional Law. He is also completing a book on international LGBTQ rights under contract with Stanford University Press. 

The full report is available through the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.