The Right to Personal Autonomy Regarding Sex, Gender and Sexual Orientation

In recent years, the fundamental rights of LGBTIQ+ persons have received increased legal attention at the international and national level. Considerable legal progress has been made in a short period of time, even though at the same time a divergent trend is occurring in several countries around the world.

The Right to Personal Autonomy Regarding Sex, Gender and Sexual Orientation investigates whether a legal framework based on (the recognition of a right to) personal autonomy regarding sex (characteristics), gender (identity/expression) and sexual orientation could still enhance the legal status of LGBTIQ+ persons. To this end, it makes use of the Belgian legal order as an illustration of a Western national legal system that is responsive to human rights claims of sexual minorities, but remains anchored in heteronormative stereotypes.

The author not only addresses the question to what extent the present legal framework recognises, protects and fulfils the rights of sexual minorities, but also how potential gaps in legal protection could be tackled. Specific attention is given to the role and value of the constitutional entrenchment of a right to personal autonomy over one’s sexual identity in advancing the inclusion of LGBTIQ+ persons in law.

From the foreword by Petra De Sutter, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister: ‘This book offers a significant contribution to the current debate about LGBTIQ+ rights. It explores the legal status of LGBTIQ+ people, and points out remaining gaps and ambivalences. Perhaps the most valuable argument this book puts forward is its analysis that LGBTIQ+ rights are important not only to a minority but to society as a whole.’

About the author

Dr. Pieter Cannoot is an assistant professor of law and diversity at Ghent University (Belgium). He was previously a law clerk at the Belgian Constitutional Court and a visiting professor at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). He regularly publishes on various topics of LGBTIQ+ rights. He has contributed to several third party interventions in pending cases before the European Court of Human Rights.