ABSTRACT
The chapter makes use of queer theory to explore how international human rights law engages with individuals’ genders and sexualities. Queer theory provides an insightful framework to examine how the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has conceived gender and sexual identities. In November 2017, the Inter-American Court delivered its ‘Advisory Opinion 24/2017’, which marked the first occasion in which the Court dealt with issues concerning trans rights, in addition to tackling important questions regarding sexuality. This chapter examines the Court’s ruling through the lens provided by queer theory. Rejecting the understanding of genders and sexualities as binary and fixed, queer theory provides a framework within which individuals’ identities become grounds for contestation and open-ended possibilities that lie beyond traditional views. The chapter uses a queer perspective to explore the role the Inter-American Court is playing in the legal regulation of gender and sexualities within the Americas. The chapter also engages with the tension between queer theory and international human rights law. While acknowledging that queer theory adopts a clearly confrontational stance towards legal regulation in general, the chapter suggests that the relationship between international human rights law and queer theory should not be an antagonistic one. Indeed, international human rights law could actually take advantage of queer theory’s relentless interrogation to reflect upon its own regulatory power.
