Douglass Victor Janoff will be giving a talk at Dillon Hall at the University of Windsor on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (DAVE GAUTHIER/ The University of Windsor)
At the United Nations, efforts to combat homophobic and transphobic discrimination have triggered clashes with states that challenge LGBT rights as a “legitimate” human right.
Canadian diplomat Dr. Douglas Victor Janoff examines these tensions and the reasons behind them in his book Queer Diplomacy: Homophobia, International Relations and LGBT Human Rights, which he will discuss at a talk at the University of Windsor on Thursday March 12.
Janoff is a seasoned foreign service officer, human rights negotiator, journalist and former community activist and researcher.
Since joining Canada’s Foreign Service in 2009, his website states he has held diplomatic postings in Washington, D.C., Afghanistan and Pakistan. Before that, he worked as a policy advisor and investigator across several federal departments, including the Department of National Defence and Public Safety Canada.
Drawing on this experience, he published Queer Diplomacy: Homophobia, International Relations and LGBT Human Rights, which was recently translated into Korean. It is described as the first study of multilateral LGBT human rights diplomacy viewed from the perspective of its practitioners.
His research included attending UN meetings in Geneva and New York and conducting 29 in-depth interviews with diplomats, human rights advocates, and UN and intergovernmental representatives.
Published in 2022, the book draws on insider perspectives to critically examine how LGBT rights play out in diplomacy, highlighting why conflicts arise and pointing to the need for closer coordination between diplomats and civil society to address ongoing human rights violations worldwide.
Janoff will be on campus Thursday March 12, to give his talk at 4 p.m. in Dillon Hall, room 255.