Now is the ideal time to study the limitations and possibilities of a global gay rights movement. The term" gay" has been borrowed into Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, and other languages, signifying its increasingly perceived universality. 1 Gay and lesbian organizations now exist in virtually every continent and in many major urban centers throughout the 2 world. A growing number of legislators and judges have taken up the cause of gay civil rights, and have actively supported protections based on sexual orientation in a host of areas, such as adoption, employment, domestic partnership, and immigration.'Throughout these global developments, American activists, scholars and media figures have played a visible role, leading at least one commentator to characterize gay pride as" America's global gay export."