Intersectional Identities: An analysis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on the rights of LGBTQ+ refugees

LGBTQ+ people endure high levels of discrimination and exclusion in both socio-political and family environments. Because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics (SOGIESC), they might easily become a vulnerable target of widespread violence and acts of persecution, which might force them to flee and seek refuge outside of their country of origin. Nonetheless, LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers also face countless challenges during their journeys, from the assessment and recognition of their status as refugees to the several socio-economical and legal barriers they might encounter in the receiving States. Over the last decades, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has made decisive steps towards the legal recognition of queer identities, advancing, through its case law, the rights of LGBTQ+ people in the national systems of individual Member States. In view of this, this dissertation will carry out a content analysis of the case law of the Strasbourg Court with the aim of examining its position in the context of LGBTQ+ immigration. More specifically, the analysis will inspect the whole body of final judgements issued by the Court in the last four years, thus focusing on the most recent cases. The examination of the data retrieved will be, then, supported by the concepts developed by Queer Theory, since its critical perspective on LGBTQ+ identities might indeed offer interesting food for thought for approaching the legal challenges LGBTQ+ refugees face.