PhD Thesis
Title: Reimagining a Queer Human: the Social and Legal Production of Subjetcs in International Human Rights Law Discourse
Phd Supervisor & Co-supervisor: Fuad Zarbiyev and Julie Billaud
Expected completion date: 2025
Transnational civil society initiatives have played a fundamental role in the social rearticulation of what is recognized as “human” in the International Human Rights Law framework. This is especially true regarding sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) rights. The struggle for the recognition of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex (LGBTI) persons is also an effort to expand the boundaries of what is understood as humanity, and to demonstrate that those are lives that deserve to be protected. The thesis explores the establishment of LGBTI rights as human rights, illustrating how subjects are produced within these dynamics. The study combines an ethnographic account of the advocacy strategies deployed by the transnational LGBTI movement with discourse analysis of legal documents regarding SOGIESC in the international legal system. The main concern is to provide a critical description of how this process occurred and to identify who are the different LGBTI subjects of rights produced by it.
Profile
Rafael Carrano Lelis (he/him) is a PhD student in International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, awarded a full scholarship, researching the production of LGBTI subjects in International Human Rights Law discourse. Holds a Master in Law (concentration area: State Theory and Constitutional Law) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), funded by the Brazilian Research Agency (CAPES). Holds a Graduate Certificate (‘Specialization’) in Gender and Sexuality from the Institute of Social Medicine of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (IMS/UERJ) and a bachelor's degree in Law from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF) with an exchange period at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon (FDUL). Served as Research Consultant for ILGA World between 2020-2021. Created and coordinated (2017-2019) the TODXS Center for Research on LGBTI+ Public Policy. He was a CAPES Young Talents for Science fellow and a researcher at HOMA – Business and Human Rights Center, funded by the Ford Foundation. He is the author of a number of publications in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian, including books, book chapters, articles in peer reviewed journals, and research reports.
Academic Work experience
Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio); Constitutional Law and Gender Lab; 2019-2020
Teaching Assistant, Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF); Judiciary and Politics, Legal Sociology, Legal Research Methodology and Techniques, Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Interpretation, Means of Challenging Judicial Decisions; 2014-2018
Research Experience
Research Consultant, The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA World), 2020-2021
Research Manager, Research Center on LGBTI+ Public Policy (TODXS Núcleo), 2017-2019
Research Assistant, Business and Human Rights Center (HOMA), 2015-2018
Research Assistant, Municipal Truth Commission (CMV-JF), 2014-2015
Research Interests
- SOGIESC Rights
- LGBTI Movement
- Critical Theory
- Post-structuralism
- Human Rights
- Comparative Constitutional Law
- Feminist and Queer Theory
Relevant Publications and Works
Books and Monographs:
1. Lelis, Rafael Carrano. Em busca das cores latino-americanas: uma análise da proteção constitucional dos direitos LGBTIs na América Latina. Lumen Juris direito. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Lumen Juris, 2018.
2. Lelis, Rafael Carrano, and Marcos Felipe Lopes de Almeida, eds. Diálogos LGBTI+: Avançando Lutas e Conjugando Campos. Simões Filho, BA: Devires, 2019.
3. Carrano Lelis, Rafael. “A Orientação Sexual Na Constituinte de 1987-88: Constituição Performativa de Sujeitos LGBTI+ Na Constituição Da Nação Brasileira.” Mestre em Ciências Jurídicas, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, 2021.
Articles and Book Chapters:
1. Lelis, Rafael Carrano. “In Search of Lost Latin-American Colours: An Analysis of the Constitutional Protection of LGBTI Rights in Latin America.” Comparative Law Review 25 (December 30, 2019): 9.
2. Lelis, Rafael Carrano, and Zhan Chiam. “The Role of the Independent Expert in the International Human Rights Framework on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” In State-Sponsored Homophobia, by Lucas Ramón Mendos, 42–46, 13th ed. Geneva: ILGA, 2019.
3. Lelis, Rafael Carrano. “Interpelações parlamentares a um homossexual na Constituinte de 1987-88: reações à fala de João Antônio Mascarenhas na Subcomissão de Direitos e Garantias Individuais.” Revista Direito, Estado e Sociedade (Ahead of Print, 2021).
4. Lelis, Rafael Carrano. “Despatologização, Ética Jornalística e Constituinte: Elementos da articulação política do MHB na luta pela cidadania sexual na década de 1980.” Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Homocultura (Forthcoming, 2021).
5. Lelis, Rafael Carrano. “Os Princípios de Yogyakarta Como Expressão de Um Contrapúblico Subalterno Transnacional e Seu Impacto Global.” Sexualidade & Política: Revista Brasileira de Políticas Públicas LGBTI+ 1 (2019): 535–68.
6. Machado, Joana de Souza, and Rafael Carrano Lelis. “Costituzione Per Chi? Trent’anni D’invisibilità Costituzionale Dei Diritti Lgbti in Brasile.” Panorama of Brazilian Law 6, no. 9–10 (2018): 9–34.
7. Lelis, Rafael Carrano, and Gabriel Coutinho Galil. “Direito Internacional Monocromático: Previsão e Aplicação Dos Direitos LGBTI Na Ordem Internacional.” Revista de Direito Internacional 15, no. 1 (April 27, 2018): 277–96.
8. Lelis, Rafael Carrano, Marcos Felipe Lopes de Almeida, and Waleska Marcy Rosa. “Quem conta como nação? A exclusão de temáticas LGBTI nas assembleias constituintes de Brasil e Colômbia.” Brazilian Journal of Public Policy 9, no. 2 (October 18, 2019).
9. Lelis, Rafael Carrano, and Joana de Souza Machado. “LGBTI Constitutionalism: a bottom-up approach to constitutional interpretation in Brazil.” Revista de Direito da Faculdade Guanambi 6, no. 02 (August 20, 2019): e260–e260.
10. Roland, Manoela Carneiro, Daniel Maurício de Aragão, Paola Durso Angelucci, Arindo Augusto Duque Neto, Gabriel Coutinho Galil, and Rafael Carrano Lelis. “Desafios e perspectivas para a construção de um instrumento jurídico vinculante em direitos humanos e empresas.” Revista Direito GV 14 (August 2018): 393–417.
11. Galil, Gabriel Coutinho, Rafael Carrano Lelis, and Paola Durso Angelucci. “A inserção da proteção das pessoas LGBTI na agenda internacional de direitos humanos e empresas” Homa Publica - Revista Internacional de Derechos Humanos y Empresas 3, no. 2 (December 21, 2019): 054–054.
12. Roland, Manoela Carneiro, Gabriel Coutinho Galil, Rafael Carrano Lelis, and Paola Durso Angelucci. “A Cooperação Jurídica Internacional e o Tratado Vinculante Em Empresas e Direitos Humanos.” In Meio Ambiente: Perspectivas Jurídicas: Do Nacional Ao Global, edited by Marilda Rosado de Sá Ribeiro, 1:223–44. Belo Horizonte: Arraes, 2018.
13. Lelis, Rafael Carrano, and Gabriel Coutinho Galil. “A Crise Da Comissão Interamericana de Direitos Humanos: Motivação Econômica Ou Fatores Políticos?” In Direito Internacional, Comunidade e Relações Internacionais, edited by Denise Salles, Icaro Leite, Douglas Castro, Simone Lima, and Daniel Romagueira, 77–96. Rio de Janeiro: Multifoco, 2017.
14. Lelis, Rafael Carrano. “Transviado também faz revolução! Um olhar maquiaveliano sobre a Revolta de Stonewall.” Revista de Ciências do Estado 4, no. 2 (December 31, 2019): 1–16.
15. Lelis, Rafael Carrano, Joana de Souza Machado, and Mizael Moreira de Paula Junior. “A Condição Precária de Pessoas LGBTI+ Encarceradas: uma análise da ADPF nº 527 a partir da revisão de literatura de dados empíricos.” Revista Culturas Jurídicas 7, no. 18 (2020).
16. Lelis, Rafael Carrano, and Adriana Vidal de Oliveira. “Inclusão Excludente: limitações da incidência política na luta pela inclusão da orientação sexual na Assembleia Nacional Constituinte.” Direito Público 18, no. 97 (April 30, 2021).
Reports:
1. Mendos, Lucas Ramón, Kellyn Botha, Rafael Carrano Lelis, Enrique López de la Peña, Ilia Savelev, and Daron Tan. “State-Sponsored Homophobia - Global Legislation Overview Update.” Geneva: ILGA, December 2020.
Fellowships, Grants and Awards
- CAPES – Young Talents for Science (2015)
- UFJF – International Undergraduate Exchange Programme Scholarship (2016)
- CAED-Jus – Finalist Best Article Award (Article: ‘Crisis at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: economic motivation or political factors?’) (2016)
- Ford Foundation – Research Scholarship (2017-2018)
- CAPES – Master’s Scholarship (2019-2021)
- The Graduate Institute – PhD Full Scholarship (2021)
Affiliations
Queer Judgments Project (University of Sussex)
Laboratory for Research and Legal Advice on Institutional Violence and Human Rights (LAVID-UFJF)
Brazilian Bar Association (OAB)