The present article asks: what bearing does the relationship between changing sexual discourse and human rights law have on the furtherance of lesbian, gay, bi-, and transsexual rights? This question the article answers by way of recourse to the Foucaultian concepts ‘genealogy’ and ‘discourse’; it traces in this vein how the law of the European Convention on Human Rights on sexuality rights has changed in relation to societal views of sexuality over the last twenty years. By bringing to bear a Foucaultian perspective the article shows the instabilities and costs incurred in the liberalising human rights project of which sexual rights is a part, bringing out how that which at first blush looks like a liberal development may in point of fact be ripe with unintended consequences.

Keywords: Discrimination; Sexuality Rights; European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR); Foucaultian Analysis.